Tracking the Sun
by LoquitorLatinae
Summary: Sequel to "Chasing the Moon". Steve and Tony have everything now: a home, a pack, a purpose, a family. They've come to terms with what it means to be mates and work to keep the peace between Shifters and the human world. But when a new enemy comes after Tony Stark, "human" billionaire, will they be strong enough to endure or will they let it tear them apart? Superfamily Shifter AU.
1. Chapter 1

I did it. I made a sequel. Oh my goodness, I just hope someone out there just wants to read this because I can already see so much time being invested in this. XD That being said, this sequel to "Chasing the Moon" (please read before beginning this story) will not be nearly as long as its predecessor (probably best for all involved). In fact, this first chapter might be the longest. But I hope that you enjoy it nonetheless. I'm looking forward to hearing your feedback as this new story gets off the ground!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays~!

* * *

Chapter 1

* * *

"_Steve_!"

Ducking just in time to avoid being hit in the forehead by a metal pipe, Steve swiveled on his heels and swung his fist up to land a devastating punch on his attacker's jaw. The beta Wolf flew back, the metal pipe he had been wielding falling from his hand and skidding across the concrete floor.

Natasha darted in from behind and finished him off with a quick kick to the back of his head. The Shifter's eyes rolled back and he crumpled to the ground. Straightening up, Steve flashed her a grateful smile. "Thanks for the warning."

The redhead nodded distractedly as her eyes skimmed the room. "Where did Clint go?"

"He went after the alpha. I'll catch up to him if you can clean up in here."

Natasha nodded again and Steve turned to head back outside, his footfalls echoing in the now silent warehouse.

SHIELD had sent them another mission and Steve had assigned himself, Natasha, and Clint to Cincinnati to carry it out. He had let the others stay at home; Bruce had reached a breaking point in some research project he was working on, Thor and Loki were flying back to the States from Europe, and Tony…well, someone needed to watch Peter. Steve really just hoped that Tony remembered to cook three meals a day for Peter. Cats didn't always need to eat consistently but Wolves, especially growing pups, needed food almost constantly. And with Bruce being so busy…but Pepper was sure to be keeping an eye on things. And if all else failed Peter knew where the crackers were in the pantry.

Steve was brought suddenly back to the present as he was hit with the smell of another alpha Wolf. SHIELD had sent them out to deal with a Wolf pack that had been causing trouble in a rougher part of Cincinnati. It was a small pack but they had started tagging, both with scent and spray-paint, to mark out what they were calling their territory. Although it was against the law, SHIELD probably wouldn't have intervened but then they had started to brawl with other Shifters and, even worse, harass some local humans. Things were better now between humans and Shifters than they had been a year ago but SHIELD wanted to stamp out anything that could bring that bad blood back as quickly as possible.

He heard Clint let out a shout and skidded around a corner to find the marksman pointing his bow with an arrow notched neatly on the string at the pack's young alpha who he had crowded up against the side of the building. The Wolf's eyes were darting around like a caged animal with his lips drawn into a hard, desperate line and Steve knew that he was going to have to act fast before this got messy. Or before their target ended up earning himself an arrow through his chest.

Rushing forward, Steve body slammed the other alpha hard enough that he heard the brick on the wall behind them crack. In another second Clint was at his side and together they wrestled the struggling Shifter to the ground. Clint produced a set of industrial-strength zip-ties from his pocket and between the two of them they quickly had all of the alpha's limbs restrained in such a way that it would be physically painful for him if he tried to shift into his Wolf form. Steve heard footsteps coming up behind them and identified it as Natasha who had undoubtedly restrained the beta back in the warehouse. "Are you two alright?"

"Yeah." Steve grunted as the other alpha snarled and elbowed him in the side by thrashing his body. "Yeah, we're fine. Did you call the local SHIELD agents?"

Natasha nodded and came down to crouch next to them, observing the Wolf on the ground with a cool eye. "They already picked the others up and they're on their way."

Clint scowled down at their adversary through his sunglasses. "This guy doesn't know when to quit!"

"Screw all of you!" The Wolf reared up but Steve quickly got him back under control. "Who the fuck do you think you are, coming in like this?"

Steve sighed. After all the trouble this alpha and his pack had put them through, Steve didn't know why he had even hoped he would go quietly. "We're with SHIELD and frankly you're lucky we didn't call the regular police to pick you up instead." Lord knew they would only be too happy to thrown these hooligans in prison and they would become just another statistic of down-and-out Shifter communities. "Now you have the right to remain silent, and I suggest you exercise that right until you call your attorney or one is provided to you. The SHIELD agents will inform you more about your legal rights when they arrive."

"Where is the rest of my pack?"

"They've also been restrained and some have already been taken into custody."

"What about Sarah?"

Steve narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Who?"

"My fucking mate! What'd you do to her?"

The young Wolf was still in a rage and Clint had to reach in to help Steve hold him down so the alpha wouldn't hurt himself with his restraints. Steve hadn't known the names of the Wolves they had just dealt with but there had only been a handful of females among them. And if he recalled their scents properly, the one coated in the alpha's scent was a tough-talking blonde beta who had tried to kick Clint in the groin. If so then she was one of the first they had come across and was probably already with SHIELD. "She's fine. She's with SHIELD so you'll probably get to see her soon. _If_ you get a hold of yourself and calm down."

It didn't quite work but the Wolf's trashing decreased, allowing Clint to pull back and stand next to Natasha. Steve rested all his weight on the alpha beneath him while his packmates cycled around to check on their other Wolves and make sure they hadn't managed to wiggle out of their restraints. Soon the sound of sirens reached Steve's ears and he knew that their back-up had arrived.

The local SHIELD agents quickly took control of the situation as soon as they arrived on site and Steve gladly let them, willing to respect their jurisdiction rights. They had been generous enough not to impose on Steve's activities after learning that he and his team was being sent in to handle the matter and Steve was happy to repay that by staying out of their way as they wrapped things up.

Two agents, one male, one female, both human, walked over and took custody of the alpha, freeing Steve up to find his team. They weren't too hard to find, having reappeared back on the sidewalk at SHIELD's arrival. For the first time Steve got a close look at Clint and realized that the Hawk had four cuts sliced down his arm, the limb unprotected by his sleeveless tactical gear. They weren't deep but they were enough to make Clint glare down at the exposed skin on his arm with a scowl.

Walking over, Steve nodded towards the wounds when the Hawk glanced up at the sound of his footsteps. "It looks like he got you a bit."

Clint tisked and flexed the bloodied arm. "Yeah, the dick started to shift then decided against it, but managed to change just enough to get his claws out."

Natasha raised her brow judgmentally but Steve could see a teasing glint in her gaze. "Slowing down?"

Clint rolled his eyes behind his shades and pulled his bow over his shoulder as Steve began to lead the way back out to the car. "Hardly. I was a little distracted by all the teeth."

"Make sure to have Bruce disinfect those when we get back. Who knows what sort of garbage these Wolves crawled through?" Clint winced as he took in the alleyway around them. Steve followed his gaze around and tilted his head to agree with Natasha. Trash had piled up along the sides of the buildings and there was a distinct odor of urine and rotting food in the air; a ripe breeding ground for bacteria. In fact, the faster they could get those cuts cleaned out the better.

"Maybe we should take care of that on the way back. There's a First Aid kit underneath the passenger's seat of the van."

Clint grinned up at him. "You always have a plan, don't you?"

"I try."

They loaded up into the car SHIELD had provided them with practiced efficiency, Steve instinctually putting himself in the driver's seat while Natasha took shotgun and Clint slipped into the back. Steve barely had the engine started up before Natasha dug around under her chair and pulled out a small First Aid kit and tossed it back to Clint. "Can you handle that on your own?"

Clint caught the kit midair with a sour pout on his face. "I think I can do that much."

Natasha didn't look quite convinced but Steve wasn't worried. He knew that Natasha and Clint both had taken several intensive field medic courses throughout their careers with SHIELD since before Steve came along they had both tended to go on solo missions and only had themselves to depend on if they were injured. And even though when Steve glanced in the rearview mirror it looked like Clint was just botching it up as he tried to wrap a bandage around his arm the Hawk had to make it work somehow. He had survived this long, after all. Moreover they'd be at the airport in less than forty minutes and Natasha could rebind it for him if it was as awful as it was sort of looking in the mirror.

The drive was quiet, broken only by small conversations about their mission. Natasha was already on her tablet—her _StarkPad_, pre-market edition—and typing in the basics for the reports they would all have to submit once they got back to SHIELD headquarters in the city.

In the quiet Steve's thoughts drifted back to his family as he drove them to the airport. Now that the excitement from being out on a mission was starting to wear off the longing to get back to Tony and Peter was growing more intense. He tried to not let it become a distraction while he was out in the field but he didn't see the harm in indulging in those kinds of thoughts after it was over and he was on his way home. Except he wasn't going to be able to go directly home since they had to be debriefed first.

Security lines were non-existent for them at the airport since they were taking a special SHIELD-issue plane back which meant that as soon as they pulled up to the tarmac they were able to load up and take-off the moment the runway was cleared. Once they were resettled Natasha deemed that Clint had done a decent enough job with bandaging himself up and had let him sleep. As a Hawk, Steve had learned that Clint tended to sleep whenever they flew in airplanes—whenever he was awake he tended to get antsy and would constantly be eyeing the windows and emergency exits. Natasha used her extra time to clean herself up in the small lavatory while Steve located a pad of paper and a pen and decided to get a jump on his own report.

The plane ride was short and simple. They had clear skies, no turbulence, and it was over before Steve realized they had even crossed a state line. As they started to descend he peeked out the window and in the distance saw the wooded area where he knew Tony's house was. A wistfulness hit him square in the chest but he swallowed it down, knowing that he'd be with the rest of his pack soon. That he'd be back with his family soon. As he turned away from the window Natasha gave him a knowing look but didn't say anything about it.

They landed in the municipal airport and Steve woke Clint up so that they could disembark and go out to the new car that SHIELD had waiting for them. It only took them a few minutes more to navigate the city traffic and reach SHIELD HQ. A few agents greeted them as they walked into the lobby and Natasha grabbed Clint to stop him from flirting with a cute brunette human and herded him to the elevator. Steve in return struggled to hide his smile, knowing that he shouldn't encourage unprofessional behavior like that. Especially when he wanted to stay on Natasha's good side.

Natasha pressed the call button for the elevator a little harder than necessary then turned back to look at Steve just as he managed to school his expression into a neutral, curious look. "Can you go clear things with Agent Coulson?"

His neutrality broke as he blinked in surprise but nodded as he realized that she was giving him a quick escape. "Of course. Do the two of you have everything else handled?"

"It's not a problem. Go ahead and head back home when you finish upstairs."

"Are you sure?" It wasn't that he thought they couldn't do it, he just didn't want both of them to feel like it was something they had to do just to give him a break. Not that he didn't appreciate it. Because he definitely did.

"I'm sure."

Steve looked over at Clint to search his face for any sign of annoyance but by then the Hawk had caught on to what Natasha was planning and looked perfectly fine with it. "Alright. Thank you. If I remember right, Bruce should have been scheduled to be working here in the lab today so could you make sure that he gets home too when you're ready to leave?"

Clint grinned as the elevator reached their floor and the doors silently slid open. "Worried that he'll forget to check the clock again?"

Smiling back, Steve tilted his head. "I've learned the hard way from Tony." From both Tony and Bruce. Although where Tony usually knew what time it was and just didn't care if he worked until three or four in the morning, Bruce entirely lost track of the hours when he was the lab. Clint was actually the best at pulling him away, though Steve was half certain that it was just because the Hawk just liked the excuse to bother Bruce.

The Hawk's grin widened and he winked. "Don't worry. We'll drag him out kicking and screaming if we need to."

Steve smiled again at the imagery Clint's words brought to mind. He would pay money to see that. But Steve kept that to himself; he wouldn't put it past Clint to try it out to earn a quick buck. "Thanks."

They all stepped into the elevator and Natasha and Clint rode it up with him until they exited on the fourth floor, leaving Steve alone to take it up to the fifth. SHIELD's new building had the same basic design as the one that had been destroyed by Hydra agents but it definitely had a new modern look to it. Before it was bureaucratic but now it looked like Tony had come in and had a field day. Which he sort of did. Stark Industries had offered a very generous donation during reconstruction and SHIELD had used it to install a communications system that even Tony admitted to being impressed by, though he had told Steve that he could have done better.

The elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open to reveal a long hall lined with touchscreen panels displaying maps, current events, and Shifter statics from the city and the nation as a whole. Invisible to the naked eye, a security system nearly as complex as JARVIS was monitoring the entire building and reading the vitals and identification of everyone inside it. Everything had been designed to reduce the likelihood of another attack like the one that had razed the building before and put SHIELD above all the other government and public agencies in terms of technological advancement.

It had taken a while for Steve to get used to it but now he was able to navigate through all the gadgets and screens to find what he needed. Including Phil Coulson. He nodded politely to all the agents that he passed—they all knew who he was—and walked straight to a door that for security reasons was no longer labeled with a name but with a number. But just as everyone in the building knew who Steve was everyone knew that room 5704 was Agent Coulson's office.

Steve knocked and was immediately answered by a quick "Come in". Obeying, Steve pushed the door open and stepped into the office. Coulson was seated behind his desk but rose to his feet when Steve walked in. "Steve, good to see you whole and healthy."

"Yes, sir." Steve reached forward to shake the man's hand. "It's good to be back." Even though they hadn't been gone all that long.

Phil nodded as if he could read between the lines and motioned towards the chair placed on the other side of the desk. "Have a seat."

"Thank you." Steve didn't really feel like sitting after the drive and the flight but it seemed like the courteous thing to do as Phil sat back down.

Closing a few windows on his computer screen, Coulson clicked another button and a fresh page popped up. "Since you're here I'm sure that Romanov and Barton are filing their own account but could you tell me your side of the story?"

This was the standard procedure between them. Every agent had to file their own personal report about the mission so that SHIELD could get a complete view of everyone's roles and the decisions they made throughout. It was up to the senior operative—in their case it was Steve despite the fact that Natasha and Clint had more experience with SHIELD—to compile all of the reports and submit them to their supervisor, which was nearly always Phil. Steve and Phil usually bent the rules a bit by going through part of the process together through conversation rather than through more paperwork.

Steve frowned thoughtfully at Phil's request, wondering how far back he would have to go and how much detail he would have to give in his account. "Has the SHEILD office in Cincinnati contacted you yet?"

"They sent a cursory report in an email."

Good. That meant that Coulson already had the basics and that nothing Steve had to say would be a surprise. Settling back into his seat, Steve folded his arms over his chest and began at the start. "As you know the mission was to stop a city-based Wolf pack from intimidating the locals and claiming blocks as their territory. Clint, Natasha, and I split up when we arrived and between the three of us spoke with enough folks to figure out who was in charge of the pack. Once we had a name and a location, we tracked down one of the pack members and I requested an audience with their alpha. They obliged but they weren't particularly welcoming when we went to talk. I asked them to stop or else SHIELD was going to step in and they were going to have to face the consequences."

Phil quirked a brow curiously. "And how did they respond?"

Steve frowned at the memory then shrugged. "They laughed. But then they realized that we were serious and they got angry." That hadn't been a pleasant situation to be in. Steve hadn't been seriously worried about his safety because he had Natasha and Clint at his side but it had still been uncomfortable. "They told us to leave and since it wasn't a good situation we left to plan out our next move. We probably would've spent a little longer planning but they started coming after us since we hadn't fully removed ourselves from what they considered their territory. We knew we had to take action and contain them before a civilian got injured so as they came at us we began to fight back. We started arresting them and handing them over to SHIELD, one at a time and then in small groups. Since we had started we figured that we should push forward until the job was done so we worked our way into their territory and through the pack until we had the alpha cornered in their den." Their den had been an abandoned warehouse. "There were a few other betas with him but after a bit of a struggle we were able to subdue them without any casualties."

The whole time Steve had been talking, Coulson had been typing. "No real problems with the city government or local law officials?"

"No. But we stayed under the radar for the most part. I'm not sure that they were even aware of our presence in the city."

"Good. That means the SHIELD agents were doing their job. Speaking of whom, did they work well with you?"

Phil's question was innocent enough but there was an underlying protective tone that made Steve want to smile. Because it was…cute that Phil was concerned about how other SHIELD agents were treating him and Steve could only imagine what sort of reprimand the Cincinnati branch would have received if Steve didn't have a favorable answer. "There was a mutual respect between us. They let us handle things on our end and we did the same for them."

"Good."

"Is there a concern there?" Steve honestly didn't know how other SHIELD agents felt about using Shifters as field agents and couldn't help but wonder if it was a concern for some despite the fact that SHIELD was built around protecting and giving equal rights and opportunities to Shifters. And to control them, which in Steve's mind was exactly why it was so important to have Shifters working for them.

"No, I just wanted to gauge their ability or wiliness to cooperate with our special operatives, such as yourself. We need to be able to keep our own people in line if we want to appear like a united force to rest of the world. Which is becoming more and more important these days."

Phil's elusive answer didn't really answer any of Steve's questions about why the other agents might not have worked well with him but he decided that if it became an issue Phil would tell him about it. Maybe it was just as simple as he said. He had no reason to doubt him. "I understand."

Phil nodded, typed a few more words, then turned to give Steve his full attention again. "It looks like we're all settled out here for now. If you'd like, you can stay in here to finish the rest of the paperwork or I can set you up in the common room down the hall. I think they might have a football game on but having that in the background might make filling out your report more entertaining."

Steve appreciated the dry joke but right now he didn't want to do either of those things. He bit the inside of his cheek to help him resist the urge to wiggle around in his chair like a school kid on a Friday afternoon. "Is there some way that I can fill the paperwork out back at the house?"

Phil blinked then nodded sympathetically. "Of course. I'll email you the appropriate forms."

"Um…"

The man paused at Steve's uncertainty then smiled. "Or perhaps I can just go get a hard copy that you can take home and fill out by hand."

"Thank you." Steve _could_ turn his computer on at home and print out the forms but things were a lot easier this way. He still didn't get the world's obsession with doing everything digitally. Which was a little funny since he was mated to the world's greatest proponent of digitization and automation.

Phil stood up and slipped around Steve to exit the room. The forms must have been kept somewhere nearby because Phil reappeared a moment later with a folder in hand. "Here you are."

Steve rose as he took the papers from the SHIELD agent. "Thank you."

The man waved away Steve's thanks with another small smile. "Either bring the forms back here or, if you're busy, I can drive by and pick them up. Say 'hello' to Peter for me."

"Of course."

Phil smiled then walked back around to his desk and turned back to his computer, undoubtedly getting right to his portion of the mission write-up. Tucking the papers under his arm, Steve moved to walk out of the door. Then he stopped himself at the threshold and rested his hand on the doorframe. "Phil?"

"Hmm?"

Steve frowned, unsure if what he was about to say was appropriate. But over the years Steve had known him he hadn't ever heard Phil mention anything about a family or significant other. Even someone as enveloped in their job as Phil was had to get a little lonely. Plus, he liked the man. "Instead of just driving by to pick up paperwork, would you be interested in coming over to the house for dinner sometime next week? I'm sure Peter would love a chance to see you in person."

Coulson blinked in surprise before a small, genuine smile spread across his face. Steve had to wonder if anyone had ever made such an offer before and was instantly happy that he had. "I would like that very much. Thank you."

"Does Thursday work for you?" Steve knew that Tony would be home early Thursday and he didn't think that Bruce, Clint, or Natasha had any firm plans.

"Thursday would be great."

Steve nodded and they exchanged one more smile before Steve took his leave, letting the SHIELD agent return to his duties. And so that he would be able to get back home faster.

SHIELD could have provided him with a car but Steve didn't want to trouble them or wait the fifteen or so minutes it would take them to find a free agent and have a car pull around to pick him up. Instead, Steve just walked out of the building, took a step off the curb, and flagged down a cab. The ride would be a little expensive since Tony lived outside of town but Steve's income could cover it. Steve thrummed with energy the whole drive over and he couldn't keep himself from fidgeting as the taxi turned the corner onto the long road that led to the Stark Mansion. He was almost home. Almost home. He wanted to get out and run but he had the paperwork and his clothes with him, and he didn't want to freak out the cab driver. Although the man was already giving him funny looks in the rearview mirror, probably because he couldn't stay still.

As soon as the car reached the main driveway Steve practically threw a stack of bills at the driver and jumped out the cab, just remembering to keep a hand on the folder. Hurrying to the front door, Steve took a moment to collect himself and then reached for the door handle.

Steve could hear voices drifting out from the media room as he pushed the front doors open and he was smiling before he could realize it. A quick glance around the foyer proved the everything was just about the same as he left it. Bringing a child into the home might have encouraged most people to redecorate but not Tony Stark. He had left all of his expensive furniture, technology, and art exactly where it had always been, some of which were very child accessible. Nothing was a danger to Peter but Peter was definitely a danger to _it_ and during the first few months some fairly pricy objects had been damaged beyond repair. To his credit, Tony never got angry when something broke, simply called it survival of the fittest and had it replaced. The only thing that had really changed about the Stark Mansion was now there were kids' toys scattered about amongst all of the pack's other possessions. Usually Steve tried to pick them up—or, more often, encourage Peter to pick up after himself to try and instill some good habits—but it was obvious that Tony had no such inclinations.

Steve's thought were interrupted as JARVIS's voice echoed out from the ceiling. "_Welcome home, Sir. Master Stark, Master Rogers has returned_."

There was a crashing noise from the next room but before Steve even had the time to be worried about it Tony was rushing out, a grinning Peter gathered up in his arms. "Thank fu—freaking god you're back. Here, take him."

Steve smiled and opened his mouth but Tony cut him off before he could utter a word with a quick shake of his head. "No, just, seriously, take him."

Steve obeyed and let Tony slide Peter into his arms before turning around and disappearing without another word. Steve watched his mate scurry away and told himself not to take it personally. He knew that Peter demanded a lot of attention and that Tony needed an equal amount of alone time that the Panther was probably near desperate to return to. So as soon as Tony disappeared from view Steve just looked down at Peter with a light smile.

The boy instantly returned it, also too used to Tony by now to be bothered by the Cat's attitude. "Hi Pop!"

"Hey, Peter." Leaning down, Steve gently headbutted Peter and he giggled happily. It was a standard Wolf greeting, especially between family and was an unspoken invitation for Peter to initiate contact between them. "How are you?"

Peter cuddled closer and reached up to wrap his hands around Steve's neck, half crawling up his chest in an effort to get closer still. He wasn't always this clingy but it was a natural and welcome response for a young beta to have to his pack's alpha's return. Especially when the pack alpha was his father. "I'm okay."

Squirming some more, Peter maneuvered himself to look over Steve's shoulder, his arms still wrapped tight around his neck. "Where're Clint and Natasha?"

"They're filing a report in town. They'll be back for dinner. Speaking of, are you hungry?"

"No, I'm alright. Dad just gave me some Pop Tarts."

At least Tony fed him _something_. Though Steve was pretty sure that those Pop Tarts had belonged to Thor. "In that case, do you want to go practice? Has your Dad been practicing with you while I was away?"

Peter became a little sullen, pulling his arms away to clutch at Steve's shirt instead of his neck. "He, he did yesterday but not today. And the day before a little bit."

"Do you want to show me what you learned?"

"Um…" Peter's voice trailed off and his eyes sheepishly darted down to the ground. The look was entirely too doubtful, too hesitant, too _uncomfortable_ for Steve to stomach. There was no reason that Peter should be feeling that way about his own abilities. Not when he was only four years old.

So Steve backtracked a bit and soothed a hand through Peter's fluffy brown hair. "How about we just go through your usual practice to warm-up then?"

Peter's chin bobbed up and met Steve's relaxed gaze. The little boy's anxiety slowly melted away at the new request and Steve was glad to see it. He had gone through his 'usual practice' for about five months now. If he had shrunk from that Steve really would have been worried. "Okay!"

Steve set Peter down and he scampered through the house out through the back door in the kitchen. Laughing, Steve took off after him and easily overtook him as he scurried across the grass towards the large structure in the backyard that Tony called the Shed while Steve and the rest of the pack called the Gym.

Either way, it was a new workout facility they had built in back of the house. It looked like a large garage from the outside and was equipped with weights, padded mats, and a miniature obstacle course to help build agility. Each of them had some specialty equipment installed as well; Steve, for example, made sure to hang up a punching bag in the corner of the room for when he really needed to burn off some steam but didn't have time for a long run. Once Peter's abilities made themselves known Tony had gone so far as to install a series of metal bars on the ceiling for Peter to use though Clint had quickly adopted them as his own personal perches.

Peter didn't waste any time once they got inside, having memorized the whole routine months ago. Even though Steve had seen it a hundred times it still awed him to watch Peter walk up to the metal wall of the gym, put his small hands up against the surface and simply start to climb. Bruce and Tony had personally analyzed Peter's hands with the boy's permission and had discovered that he actually had the same small hairs that real spiders had on his palms and to a lesser degree on the soles of his feet. They had also looked at the small holes on his wrists where his webs came from. Then they had ended up accidentally triggering them and had spent the next two hours cleaning the sticky fibers off of Peter and Tony's lab. Although Peter couldn't shift into his Wolf form, in a way he always existed in a half-shifted state.

When he reached the top of the wall, Peter unstuck one hand and shot out a web, attaching it to one of the metal bars then released the wall entirely and with a giggle swung away from it. The momentum carried him in a semi-circle arc all the way up to another metal bar that he caught hold of and scrambling up onto it. He spent the next few minutes just jumping from bar to bar and Steve tried not to worry. When they had started bringing Peter in for exercise both he and Tony had been afraid that the toddler was going to seriously injure himself but so far he had only fallen twice during all of his goofing around. Both times they had caught him before he hit the ground but Bruce assured them that even at his age if Peter fell he wouldn't seriously hurt himself since the floors were padded and Shifters were much more durable that human children.

His thoughts were brought back up and he watched Peter shimmy clumsily up the thin metal pole that attached the bar to the ceiling. The ceiling was made of polished metal, it was on an incline, and Peter had to be upside-down as he moved but he didn't hesitate for a second. Steve smiled up at him as he crawled his way across the ceiling until he was right above Steve. Tipping his head back, Peter smiled back and then his expression widened into a grin. "Pop, catch me!"

Last time Steve helped Peter out with his exercises he was having a bit of trouble finding a graceful way back off the ceiling but this seemed to work alright. Reaching his arms up over his head, Steve waved for Peter to come down and Peter let himself drop. Steve grunted as Peter fell down onto him and he caught him easily in his arms. "Gotcha!"

Peter laughed and flailed about until Steve was holding him just as he wanted then leaned forward to cuddle against his chest. Steve's smile softened and he tightened his hold on the boy and took in his unique scent. It was predominately Wolf with an undercurrent of a 'something else' Steve knew to be Spider all drowned out by the smell of his pack, particularly him and Tony. Steve couldn't think of a more perfect scent in the entire world.

"You two look like a Norman Rockwell painting." Steve looked up and smiled to find Tony standing just inside the doorway. "You know, if he had painted Shifters."

"Tony, what is it?" Steve had expected the Panther to hide out for at least another hour or two and would have been happy to give his mate the time he needed to decompress.

Tony shrugged off Steve's confusion. "Just wanted to let the two of you sickeningly adorable dogs know that Bruce just called. He met up with Natasha and Clint at SHIELD and they're dragging him home for dinner."

Steve's eyes widened and he looked down to check his watch. "Are they coming back already? I should get something started." He hadn't even noticed how much time he had spent watching Peter play around. No wonder he seemed tuckered out.

"Too late. I already ordered pizza."

Steve sighed but nodded his head in thanks. "You didn't have to do that." He would have been happy to cook. Tony always hated having to cook but Steve never really minded. And it made him feel bad when Tony had to spend more money on them, even though he knew the Cat didn't care.

"And you shouldn't have to cook after you just got back from a mission."

"Ya, but—"

Tony interrupted him. "Peter, you're good with pizza, right?"

Steve knew he had lost the argument when Peter brightened and he spun his head around to smile at his Dad. "With lots a meat on it?"

"Of course."

"Yay!"

Steve laughed at Peter's excitement and shook his head. "Okay, okay. We'll do pizza. Let's go inside and get ready."

Sending Steve a victorious smile, Tony turned and watched his mate leave the gym with Peter still in his arms with no apparent intention of being put down any time soon. Tony was still smirking as Steve walked by and Steve figured it was just because Tony was now enjoying the fact he was momentarily stuck with an arm-full of wiggling Wolf cub. Steve definitely wasn't expecting the hand on his ass and started in surprise as Tony almost—no, there was nothing almost about it—Tony shamelessly groped him right behind their son's back. Biting his lip to keep in any embarrassing noises, Steve reached one hand back and subtly smacked his mate's hand off. "Tony…"

"Hmm?"

Steve was almost amazed at the Cat's abilities to sound so completely normal. "How about you go and get the table set?"

"Fine. Spoilsport." Peter giggled as Tony stuck out his tongue. Steve rolled his eyes but mouthed 'later' over Peter's head and Tony winked back before turning on his heels and heading up to the kitchen.

They had barely made it back into the house when there was a noise coming from the front of the house. Steve grunted as Peter used his chest as a launching pad, springing off of him and running through the house towards the front door with a wide grin on his face. "Uncle Bruce is home! Clint and Natasha are home!"

Tony raised a brow and Steve could only smile back at him as they listened to the sound of the front door being wrenched open followed by a surprised shout, a _thud_, and a laugh from Clint. It sounded like Peter had tackled Bruce to the ground again. Tony shook his head. "One of these days Bruce is going to shift when Peter jumps on him like that." Tony was joking but there was a very real underlying warning in his tone.

"He's usually able to sense Peter coming."

"I'm going to say 'I told you so' when it happens."

"I see you two are already back to normal." Bruce walked in to the room with Peter's arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders, the boy clinging onto the beta's back so firmly that Steve knew he had to be using his Spider abilities to hang on. There was a weary smile on his face as he nodded to Tony and Steve. "Steve, it's good to see you home again."

"You too, Bruce."

The beta adjusted Peter's hold as the boy's arms slid up towards his neck. "Does someone have dinner going?"

Tony grinned as the beta's stomach let out a low rumble. "Hungry?"

Bruce gave Tony an unimpressed look and Steve stepped in before Tony could tease Bruce anymore. "Don't worry, pizza's on the way. Where are Clint and Natasha?" He could smell them on Bruce and had heard them come in with him.

"They went upstairs to clean up after the mission."

Tony glanced at Steve out of the corner of his eyes. "Something you should've done."

"Hey!" Steve had meant that to come out a bit more annoyed than amused. Oh well.

"You smell like Wolf and piss."

Steve paused then realized that he had spent the better part of the morning in a strange Wolf den and the alleyway next to it _had_ had a particularly potent urine smell. Pulling up the hem of his shirt, Steve sniffed it and, sure enough, it was a little more pungent than he had realized.

Peter frowned then made Bruce gag lightly as he pulled at the beta's neck. "I think you smell okay!"

"See?" Tony waved towards Peter with a smirk on his lips that Steve suddenly wanted to kiss away. "Even Peter can't give you more than an 'okay'."

Despite his words, the look Tony was giving him was pushing Steve's limits and Steve knew that if he didn't nip this in the bud his mate would get his way and they'd be up in bed before dinner even got there. "Alright, you win. I'll go take a shower."

Tony smile turned sly. "Maybe I'll come and—"

Across the room, Bruce rolled his eyes as Steve flushed. "The pizza's almost here, it's going to be a really quick shower."

Tony's eyes scanned up and down Steve's body and Steve's throat went dry as Tony licked his lips. "I can make it quick."

The way Tony was still looking at him was not playing fair. Steve felt his resolve wavering until Bruce loudly cleared his throat. "Maybe Steve should _just_ get cleaned up. We don't want to hold dinner up. I'm sure Peter's hungry, aren't you?"

"Yeah!"

Peter's chirp shook Steve out of his arousal and he was immediately embarrassed for losing any semblance of control in front of his son. "Y-yeah. I'm just, okay…I'm going to go upstairs now. Be right back!"

As he turned tail and hustled towards the stairs he heard Bruce let out a long sigh. "You're terrible."

Tony's response drifted over to his ears as he reached the base of the staircase. "Give me a break, it's been a whole week…"

Steve didn't think he had ever showered so fast. He hurried for several reasons: he didn't want to waste time up here when he finally had the majority of his pack together again, he didn't want to be stuck in the shower when the pizza arrived, and—most importantly—he didn't trust Tony not to try and sneak in if he took too long. And while that would have been a very good, very enjoyable thing, the timing just wasn't right. Not when Bruce, Natasha, and Clint had just gotten home. And not when Peter was still awake. Swearing under his breath, Steve turned the water as cold as it would go and pressed his hands against the tile of the shower wall to keep his hands off of himself.

In no more than three minutes Steve was out and toweling his hair off, his skin shivering lightly as he warmed himself back up. The chill had been worth it though. It now felt like he could see Tony again without tackling him to the ground and rutting against him like he was in heat. At least he hoped so. Tony had been right; it had been a whole week. And suddenly that seemed like forever.

Steve looked up as he heard the doorbell ring and practically fell over himself as he fumbled to pull some new pants on. Shaking his head to try and get a bit more water off, he tugged a shirt on over his damp hair and hurried out the door. In the hall he saw that Natasha and Clint both still had the doors closed to their rooms and knocked on each. "Dinner's here."

He heard some rustling around in Clint's room. "_Be right out!"_

"Make sure you come down, you could use the food." He wouldn't put it past Clint, or Natasha really, to skip dinner in favor of finishing up any extra work or winding down, but they needed the calories. As far as Steve knew none of them had found the time to eat all day.

"_Yes, mother_."

Taking the hint, Steve left them alone to finish up and jogged the rest of the way down stairs. The pizza delivery man had already come and gone by the time he reached the main floor of the house so he moved directly into the kitchen. Steve claimed his seat at the head of the table with a grateful sigh and smiled as Tony sat down on his right. Peter scrambled into his seat on his left and Bruce sat down next to him, Natasha and Clint arriving not a moment later and sitting next to each other beside Tony. There were two empty seats at the far end of the long table that Steve insisted be left out for Thor and Loki even when they weren't in the country. It was a tradition of respect and acknowledgment that Steve had carried over from his time leading the Howling Commandoes.

Peter kicked his feet excitedly under the table as Bruce passed around some plates and flipped open the lid to one of the three extra-large pizza boxes sitting in the center of the table. It might have looked like a lot of food but if he wanted to Steve could have eaten a whole pizza by himself. They were lucky that Natasha and Clint were relatively light eaters, otherwise they would have needed to order a fourth.

Dinner was fairly normal by their standards. Everyone was lively and talkative. There was a lot of conversation, a little teasing, a lot of off-color jokes phrased just innocently enough so that Peter couldn't understand them, and the constant risk of a food-fight. Steve just barely managed to keep the peace but he was enjoying himself even as he glared at Clint as he threated to throw a piece of pizza crust at Bruce. Because he had missed this. And the way Tony's leg kept brushing up against his under the table was nice. More than nice but Steve wasn't going to let himself think that way because they were at the dining table and it was inappropriate.

But it was clear Tony didn't feel the same.

Almost as soon as dinner was finished and the dishes were clean Tony managed to find an excuse to follow Steve into the library. Steve had honestly been looking for a pen so he could start the mission paperwork while it was still fresh in his mind but when he looked up the Cat was a mere three feet away and closing in.

Knowing he had been spotted and not minding in the least, Tony grinned and purposefully let his eyes drag up and down Steve's body with so much heat in his stare that Steve swore he could feel it on his skin. It took half a second of eye-contact with his mate to make Steve completely forget about paperwork and pens. Steve licked his lips and Tony laughed, reaching out to get a tight grip on the fabric of Steve's shirt to draw him in for a light, teasing kiss. That quick touch of lips was all that was needed to break the thin layer of self-control he had left. Tony wanted him, he wanted Tony—God, did he ever. Even one week was too long to not be able to touch his mate. Steve grunted and stared to back them out of the room, into the entry hall, and up towards the stairs.

They hadn't made it halfway across the foyer before Bruce was hurrying after them, a towel tucked over his arm from drying the dishes. "Hey, Steve. I was hoping to have a quick word with you and Tony?"

Tony leaned back to look around Steve's shoulder and glare at Bruce. "He's busy."

Steve sighed. "Tony…" He wanted to continue this just as much as Tony did but the pack had to come first.

But Tony wasn't having it. "You're busy."

Steve sucked in a breath as Tony subtly reached forward and rested his hand on Steve's belt buckle. The gesture wasn't sexual in itself but the promises it held were enough to make Steve break propriety. "Sorry. Excuse me, Bruce."

Steve let Tony drag him up to the second story and down the hall to their room, all the while trying to keep a smile off of his face. "That was rude."

Tony grinned and with one more tug had them both in the bedroom. "You know what's really rude? You giving me blue-balls all night. That's down-right cruel—"

Steve ducked down and quieted his mate with a kiss. The moan Tony let out when their lips touched sent a curl of hot pleasure down through Steve's gut and a low growl escaped him as Tony nipped at his bottom lip until Steve's mouth opened and they deepened their kiss. Tony adjusted his stance and Steve shivered as he felt a brush of a tell-tale hardness against his thigh. "Tony…"

"I think it's about time we—"

This time Tony was cut off not by Steve but by the pitter-patter of small feet on the ground. Steve jerked back from his mate just as Peter bounced into the room, a warm smile on his face as Steve belatedly realized he had forgot to shut their bedroom door behind them.

"Pop, can you read me a story before bed?"

Later Steve would look back and be impressed by how quickly he was able to recover his composure. There was only a slight tremble in his voice and he turned back and nodded at his son. "Of course. Go get your pajamas on and brush your teeth. I'll come in when you're all done."

Peter scampered off to do as he was told. As he left the room, Steve turned back to Tony with a small smile. " I guess I'll be right back."

There was a frustrated frown on Tony's face and he reached out to run his hands down Steve's hip, his blunt nails scratching against the rough fabric of his jeans. "Come on, let's just put him to bed in an hour or two. It's only eight thirty."

Swallowing, Steve rested a hand on top of Tony's as the Cat's touch began to wander further south. "That's late enough for a four year old." Tony snorted and Steve tilted his head. "You didn't let him stay up all night again while I was away, did you?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Just until nine…or eleven or twelve." Steve sighed and Tony pulled his hand away to wave it dismissively in the air. "Does it really matter? It's not like he's in school yet."

"Wolves need routine. We need discipline."

Tony scoffed before a thought seemed to strike him and his brow quirked up. A dirty smile slid across his lips and Steve immediately knew he had walked himself into an innuendo. "Well, who am I to deny you discipline? How about you pick a short story to read so I can knock a little discipline into you?"

Steve flushed red but couldn't help but smile back and bow his head down for one more kiss before turning and leaving their room. When he reached Peter's room, which was the room he used to stay in before he and Tony started sleeping together, the boy had just gotten back from the bathroom and was finishing pulling on his pajama top. Smiling at the sight, Steve crouched down to help him untangle his sleeve and grinned as Peter finally tugged the shirt all the way on and his head popped out the top hole. "Did you brush your teeth?"

"Yup!"

"Did you use the potty?" Peter had been relatively easy to potty-train according to the horror stories he and Tony had read about in parenting books but sometimes he still forgot to try to go before bed, which resulted either in a late-night bathroom run or waking up to wet sheets.

"Yup!" Running over to his bed, Peter snatched his favorite plushie off of it and ran back over to Steve. "Can you read me a story now?"

"Of course. But how about a short one tonight, okay? We're all a little tired." Steve thought that was probably true. Just because he had another motive for finishing up early didn't mean his first was a lie.

"Okay." Peter padded over to the small bookcase in his room, his stuffed wolf dangling limply from one arm. Clint had gotten him the toy as a joke but to the Hawk's chagrin Peter had fallen in love with it and refused to sleep without it. Steve stood and watched with a fond smile as the boy crouched down and pursed his lips together in exaggerated concentration. Finally he seemed to settle on one of the books and gently tugged it free from the books around it. Holding it up, Peter toddled back over to his bed where Steve was waiting for him. "This?"

A Dr. Suess classic. "That's perfect."

Peter smiled and clamored up onto the bed with one hand clutching the book tightly to his chest and the other still keeping a firm hold on his stuffed toy. Steve sat on the edge of the mattress and Peter snuggled up against him, his head resting on the alpha's lap as his arms wrapped around his stuffed wolf. Smiling down, Steve ruffled his boy's hair then ran his hand down to scratch lightly on Peter's back. He hummed happily and pressed even closer, his nose burying into Steve's cotton shirt as he passed the older Wolf the book.

Steve kept his voice low and calm as he read, the words sounding more like a lullaby than prose, and even though it was a short book Peter's eyelids were beginning to droop before Steve was even able to reach the last few pages. As he finished, Steve gently closed the book and set it on the small table beside Peter's bed before carefully lifting his son off so that he could slip off the covers. Peter only yawned and nestled back into his sheets, not needing any more coaxing to settle in. Steve's expression softened and he leaned down to tuck the covers in around his small body and press a light kiss to the top of his head. "Good night, pup. Sweet dreams."

Pulling his stuffed wolf closer, Peter yawned widely again before he was able to answer. "'Night, Pop. 'm glad you're home."

"Me too."

For many reasons.

Their room was dark when Steve stepped back into it and he paused a moment after closing the door behind him to let his eyes adjust. He could smell Tony and the heady musk that had already filled the air. Steve still couldn't see that well but didn't need to in order to know that Tony had a smirk on his face as he spoke. "Lose the shirt."

Steve faltered before a smile spread across his own lips. He reached down to the hem of his shirt and tugged it up over his head. It was impossible to resist flexing a bit, knowing that Tony had to be watching from the bed, as he carefully folded up his shirt and placed it next to the dresser.

"The pants and underwear too, while you're at it."

It wasn't an entirely unexpected demand but it still brought a blush to Steve's cheeks. "You better be naked over there." That would only be fair.

"I guess you'll just have to come over here and check for yourself."

Steve smirked at the response but did just that and strode across the room fully nude and with the beginnings of arousal spreading through him like a wildfire. He knew the room well enough to make his way to the bed without his sight. He stretched his hands out in front of him as he came closer to the mattress and pulled himself up onto the comforter when the tips of his fingers hit the soft duvet. Pulling in a long breath of air through his nose, he growled appreciatively at the scent of his mate ready and waiting for him. Tony's hands found his shoulder and guided him up to lie next to him, wasting no time in pressing their lips together.

It started gentle and chaste, half dry press of lips, half breathing in each other's scents. But soon the kisses were becoming deeper and Steve felt himself growing drunk on Tony's smell as the Cat nipped at his bottom lip until he parted his lips and their tongues met. It had only been a week but suddenly it felt like it had been forever since Steve had last touched or tasted him. He couldn't keep his hands to himself but Tony didn't seem to mind, humming into his mouth as Steve's hands slid their way down Tony's sides until he was resting his palms on his mate's bottom and could pull Tony's hips in tight against his. Tony swore under his breath and clutched at Steve's shoulder before he threw one leg over Steve's hip and made them both gasp as their erections rubbed together.

The momentum from the change in position rolled Steve onto his back and he bit his lip, only letting a muffled grunt escape him, as Tony leaned down and whispered against his ear. "Stay."

It was a command, the kind that you'd give a dog, but Steve knew it wasn't meant as an insult and couldn't help but get excited as another wave of Tony's alpha pheromones washed over him. The Cat's smirk grew and he crawled on top of him so that he was straddling Steve's waist with his hands pressed down onto the mattress on either side of Steve's head. The look in Tony's eyes was pure want and it made heat flare up and pool low and hot in his belly.

The next thing Steve knew they were rutting together. The stimulation was nice but it wasn't enough and Steve growled out as much. Tony only smirked again, the expression shakier this time and belied by the flush in his cheeks. "You're gonna have to beg for it."

Steve scowled, his voice graveled and husky already as he let out a protesting groan. "Tony…"

"Discipline, remember?"

"Not going to happen." It was always like this: half a game, half a real test of wills. Steve gasped as Tony gave a particularly brutal thrust and arched into it but didn't let himself release the whine that threatened to burst from his throat. They both made sure that it was never malicious but fighting for dominance had become an almost necessary part of their bondings. Maybe it would be simpler if Tony was an omega, if Steve had a mate who was instinctually programmed to roll onto their stomachs and present themselves on his command, and he would be lying if he said that part of him still didn't find that appealing.

But a bigger part of Steve loved the way Tony challenged him and met every touch, push, and kiss with as much or more power. The way things escalated and they ended up tangled together, pinning each other down and both licking, kissing, and biting everywhere they could reach. It was a different fulfillment, a different kind of rush, and Steve never wanted to be without it again.

Tony was biting and nipping his way down Steve's neck when the spell was momentarily broken, Steve jerking as Tony's cell phone chirped from the bedside table. Tony snarled, glared back at it, then ignored it with the complete dismissal only a Cat could muster to return to his assault on Steve's neck. A few seconds later there was another chirp, followed by another, and on the fourth Tony hissed and threw himself across Steve's chest to snatch up his phone. Steve thought he was going to answer it until Tony drew his arm back and chucked the phone across the room so hard that it hit the wall with a loud _snap. _

Steve lifted an questioning eyebrow as Tony turned back to glower down at him but couldn't stop a smile from pulling the corner of his lips up when Tony rolled his eyes. "…Probably a solicitor."

Steve snorted and rested his hands back on Tony's hips. "I'm sure."

Tony's glower slipped off his face at the feeling of his mate's fingers on his skin. A groan rolled out of Steve's throat as Tony ground his hips back down. "Sassy…"

Steve gasped as Tony gave a particularly forceful thrust down and his grip tightened on Tony's hips. It was getting hard to breathe. Everything in him wanted to throw Tony across the bed and fuck him absolutely senseless but he was so desperate from all the teasing that he was pretty much willing to do anything Tony wanted, as long as it brought some _relief_. He hadn't felt this worked up since their last heat had hit. It almost scared him, what he was willing to do for his mate. "You bring the worst out in me. And the best."

"And I'm planning seeing both tonight." Pausing just long enough to wink at him, Tony slunk down Steve's body, letting his hands drag down his overheated skin.

Steve threw his head back as Tony used his shoulders to nudge his knees farther apart. "God, Tony. Please…!" The 'please' slipped out before Steve could stop it but he didn't have it in him to be upset at that point.

He heard Tony chuckle, dark and dangerous, and the Cat licked a stripe up the inside of Steve's thighs before wetting down two fingers. "Good boy, keep on begging for me."

If he had been in his right mind Steve would have called it off at that remark but he was too far gone. After almost two years together Tony knew how to play his body like a fiddle: where to touch, where to lick, where to bite. How to let his scenting oil seep out so that the smell drove Steve crazy. Whether he was taking Tony or, like tonight, Tony took him, the Cat knew just what to do to reduce Steve into a sweating, begging, rutting mess. And Tony was taking way too long prepping him as he slipped one finger in him, and then a second. "Tony, come on!"

Tony grit his teeth. "You know as well as I do this always takes too damn long." Alphas weren't bred for patience when it came to sex. What they were meant for were omegas. Omegas who happened to self-lubricate. Even betas—according to Tony—were easier to open up.

"_Pardon me, Master Stark, Master Rogers—_"

Tony jerked in surprise and Steve yelped as he jammed his fingers in a bit too hard. JARVIS genuinely seemed remorseful as they both looked up at the ceiling. "_I apologize, sirs. Doctor Banner is requesting your presence downstairs._"

Groaning as Tony pulled away, Steve leaned back against his pillow and tried to stop his chest from heaving. "Was, was it Bruce who was calling?"

Tony didn't answer him, responding to JARVIS instead even as he moved to straddle Steve's waist again. "Tell Bruce to wait until morning."

"_I'm afraid he's insisting_ _that there is an important matter he needs to discuss with the both of you_."

Tony met Steve's eyes, the Cat sitting back on top of Steve's legs. A silent conversation passed between them. Neither of them really wanted to go but apparently it was important. Steve let out a breath and wishing that he had taken the time to hear Bruce out earlier. "We should go."

"I knew you were going to say that…" Tony growled but rolled off of Steve. He turned back to take in the view one more time then raised his brows and waved at the erection Steve was still sporting. "Well, you better get _that_ under control before we leave."

Steve blushed but took the advice to heart and quickly began to think of unappealing things to try and kill his arousal. "What about you?" He wasn't the only one showing evidence of their tussle.

But Tony only shrugged as he pulled out an old t-shirt Steve was pretty sure was his and tugged it on. "I don't care. Bruce gets to see what he gets to see."

Despite what Tony had threatened he too had gotten his erection down by the time they had made it down the stairs. Bruce was waiting for them in the media room. It looked like only other person still up was Natasha, the redhead tucked into an armchair with her phone. Tony didn't pay her any mind though and went straight for Bruce, a snarl on his lips but no real heat in his voice. "This better be important. You interrupted—"

Bruce at least had the good graces to look apologetic but cut Tony off before he could finish complaining. "I can smell what I interrupted, you don't need to explain it. And it is important." He looked over from his seat on the couch as Natasha silently tucked her phone away and moved to stand and allow them some privacy. "Wait, Natasha, you stay too."

Now Steve was on guard, an anxious feeling growing in his chest. "What is it, Bruce?" The way that Bruce had said that made it obvious that he wanted Natasha to be a part of this conversation. But Steve couldn't think of any business he and Tony had with Bruce that also involved Natasha but none of the rest of the pack. Natasha looked equally confused which did not bode well. The Spider almost always knew any important news before anyone else.

The beta scooted forward in his seat. His nerves showed by the way he couldn't keep his hands still, fiddling with his sleeves and adjusting his glasses. Steve glanced over at Tony and saw that his mate's brows were drawn together. All the earlier playfulness had been wiped from his face to be replaced with a concerned frown as Bruce began to explain. "The project I was working on, I just finished it today. I have been meaning to get around to it for a while now but the weeks just went by so fast…"

Tony interrupted as Bruce began to ramble. "What was your project?"

"Peter. Peter was my project." Steve sucked in a quick breath. Steve knew Bruce and Tony had both done research on him but he didn't know Bruce was still at it. What had he found after all these months? Was something wrong with Peter? "Since he has been relatively stable the priority wasn't very high so I haven't gotten the chance to really explore his genetics as much as I would have liked to. I'm sure we've all had the same thought about the rarity of the genes Peter was spliced with."

Now Steve knew why Bruce had wanted Natasha to stay. She tensed in the armchair, her eyes narrowing at Bruce. "Cut to the chase."

"The Spider DNA is yours, Natasha."

Steve couldn't believe it. And going off the looks on their faces, neither could Tony or Natasha. The redhead opened her mouth, then pursed her lips, then tried to speak once more. This was the first time that Steve had seen Natasha literally rendered speechless. "How is that possible?"

Bruce sighed. "Somehow they must have gotten your DNA. Can you think of any way that Hydra would have gotten a sample of it?"

She shook her head emphatically. "No. No, not even SHIELD has it."

Growling, Tony crossed his arms over his chest. "Well they got your DNA somehow."

Bruce leaned forward, his eyes locked on hers in an intense stare. "A hair sample, a blood sample, anything?"

Steve trusted that Bruce knew what he was talking about but the more he thought about it, the more the pieces just didn't seem to fit. If Natasha had really been private enough over the years to not even allow SHIELD to have her genetic information he didn't see how Hydra would have gotten it. It was true that trace evidence might have been left during any one of their missions but, "I find it hard to imagine that the scientists working for Hydra would have gone out looking for a single strand of Natasha's hair—"

"Wait." Steve's jaw snapped shut as Natasha suddenly looked up to reconnect with Bruce's stare. She had fallen silent for a moment and her eyes had gone out of focus as she delved back into her memory. "I cut my hand."

"What?" Steve mentally worked back through his own memories to try and recall when Natasha had injured herself.

"I cut my hand on some glass during one of our earlier missions together, when we were hunting down Loki." Her eyes grew wide. "The cut wasn't deep so I didn't give it any thought but—"

"—But they would have had plenty of time afterwards to see the blood and swab it. And there's a simple test they could have run to check what sort of Shifter the blood came from." Bruce closed his eyes and raked his fingers back through his graying hair. "It wouldn't have taken them long to isolate and replicate the DNA sequence with the instruments they had in their labs."

Steve shook his head. "So the DNA Hydra used on Peter came from Natasha…Are there any others out there with her DNA?"

Bruce's head bobbed back up. "No. Well," the beta winced, "none that are still alive. Peter was lucky, there were two other Shifters in the lab who Hydra tried to splice with Spider DNA but it didn't take."

Rising to her feet, Natasha paced over to the window, her hands gripping the sill as if to try and stabilize herself. "Is there any way that this makes me legally responsible for him? For Peter?"

"No, not as far as any court would be concerned. Peter is Tony and Steve's child."

Steve was just as comforted to hear Bruce's answer as Natasha was. He knew Tony felt the same as he heard the Cat let out a long breath. And the more Steve thought about it, "It's odd but, it's actually a relief to hear."

Bruce tilted his head. "What is?"

"That the Spider DNA in Peter came from Natasha. At least we know you. And you're pack, you're family. In a way it sort of seems like we were meant to adopt Peter. What were the chances?"

A weak but grateful smile worked its way onto Bruce's lips. "The chance that the Spider DNA in Peter came from Natasha? About one in three, based off of the statistics SHIELD has on Spider Shifters."

Tony, who had been oddly quiet until then, finally spoke with a quirk of his lips. "You take the magic out of life."

Bruce smiled back at him even as hesitation lingered in his expression. "Like you're one to talk. But you two are okay with that?"

Steve's answer was immediate. "Of course." It was how things were; they couldn't change it so the only thing to do was accept it with open arms.

Nodding his agreement, Tony's grin widened. "I'm not upset with Natasha, if that's what you're getting at. It's not like she's going to try to claim custody, are you Mama?"

Natasha narrowed her eyes and even from across the room the glare she sent him could have brought grown men to tears. "You call me that again and I will castrate you."

Bruce smiled wearily at the exchange before returning his attention to his alphas. "Do you want me to try and explain any of this to Peter?"

Tony and Steve looked at each other. "If he ever asks, we won't lie to him about it."

Steve frowned as Natasha fidgeted by the window. "Are _you_ alright with that, Natasha?"

"I…yes, fine. I just don't want him to think I was actively involved with what happened to him."

"When he asks—_if_ he asks—we'll make sure that he knows it."

With their conversation over, Tony had all but dragged Steve back up to their bedroom. Tony released him as they reached the door and had thrown himself back onto the bed before Steve was able to lock the door behind them.

Tony rolled back under the covers and leaned his head back on the pillow, closing his eyes with a low groan. Steve smiled and crawled onto the mattress to lean over him. Feeling him hover, Tony flicked one eye open to glare up at him. His annoyed expression melted away though as Steve lowered himself down to press their lips together. A rumble rolled up in Tony's chest and he pressed himself up to meet Steve halfway and teased his tongue into his mate's mouth. Then he realized what position they were in and growled.

Steve yelped as Tony broke the kiss and surged forward, knocking him onto his back. He blinked up to find Tony smirking down at him. "I don't think so…How about we just start where we left off."

"I'm okay with that." Tony's growls slowed to a happy rumble.

Steve huffed out a breath as Tony's hand found his arousal and stretched his own arms up over his head. Tony chuckled, his voice hot against Steve's neck. "Not such a bad way to end a job, is it?"

"No…" It really wasn't, Bruce's talk included.

He felt Tony smile against his skin and closed his eyes as the Cat began to kiss and lick at his throat between words. "And just think, we have the whole next week to ourselves."

Oh. Wait. Steve blinked his eyes open. "I forgot to tell you, I invited Phil over for dinner on Thursday."

Tony froze then seemed to deflate, a large huff of air hitting Steve's neck as Tony sagged. "You deserve an award for killing the mood."

Laughing despite himself, Steve nuzzled Tony's ear. "Sorry. Sorry…I'll make it up to you."

"You better."

Steve's laughter faded into a warm grin as he tugged Tony back into place. "I will. Come here."

In Steve's defense, he did make it up to him.


	2. Chapter 2

As a side note, for those of you who noticed (and even for those of you who didn't) I'm not going to be mentioning which chapters have "M" rated content anymore like I did with "Chasing the Moon" (unless you'd prefer that I did so). That's due to the fact that I rated this story "M" from the get-go so I assume you knew what you were getting yourself into when you started. Much thanks to Whitewolfstar who reviewed the last chapter! I realize now the flaw with posting a story as a Christmas present is that very few people log on during the holidays and then said story gets lost in the stream of updates. At least I hope that's the reason (yikes!). Ah well, onto the next!

* * *

Chapter 2

* * *

The week passed very much the same as any other when the whole pack was home. Tony started going back to the office during the day and took Bruce in with him to continue his projects in Stark Industries R&D department instead of using SHIELDs laboratory facilities. Clint, Natasha, and Steve wrapped up their reports and went back to training for the next. Steve also took over tending to Peter during the day and he relished having the opportunity to do so. Every day was a little adventure and the routine made time rush by.

Before Steve knew it, it was already Thursday and that same daily routine was turned on its head as he now found himself faced with the challenge of getting everything ready for a guest. Clint had volunteered to keep Peter entertained for a few hours but Steve almost wished that he had a bit of a distraction.

Steve let out a breath and rested his hands on his hips as he stared into the fridge. Okay, what was he going to make for dinner? His initial impulse had been steak with a side of potatoes but then he had the thought that as much as Phil might like steak he should probably consider some sort of vegetable as a side-dish. Which was where he was stuck now. Vegetables weren't really a staple in the house and Steve wasn't really an expert on how to prepare them for company. He had seen how restaurants did it but to actually execute it himself was a different matter entirely.

Just as Steve was considering calling Peggy up, Natasha walked into the kitchen behind him. It looked like she had just come in for a glass of water but Steve stopped her before she was even able to reach for the cabinet where the glasses were kept. "What sort of vegetables go with steak and potatoes?"

The redhead gave him an unimpressed look. Unimpressed, but not surprised. "Most of them?" When Steve just continued to stare Natasha sighed and walked over to stand next to him in front of the fridge. "What do we have?"

Steve immediately scooted over to allow her full access to their very sad-looking vegetable drawer. "Uh…a head of broccoli that looks a little old and two carrots."

"The broccoli is still good, just cut the browner sections off. You can use both the broccoli and the carrots to make up for the parts you trim off."

Okay, broccoli and carrots could go together. Good. That was a start. "How should I cook them?"

Natasha sighed and rolled her eyes but went ahead and pulled the vegetables out of the crisper. If he had been anyone else in the pack Steve had a feeling that the eye-roll would have been accompanied by a dry insult. "You could steam them or roast them. Here, how about you take care of the steaks and I'll do the vegetables?"

"Thanks."

Natasha must have heard the relief in his voice because she smiled as she rolled her sleeves back.

They worked in together in the kitchen for about twenty minutes and it was actually quite nice. Natasha had never been a big talker and Steve appreciated her calm quiet. It took some of the pressure he had been feeling off of his shoulders. Soon it was just like cooking any other dinner, save for the addition of greens, and there was a soft smile on his face when JARVIS announced that Tony and Bruce had made it back home.

Steve heard the front door open and a minute later Tony stuck his head in the doorway of the kitchen, Peter clutched tightly onto his pants. The Cat's eyes passed from Steve to Natasha before he smirked. "I see the two of you are having fun playing 'house' tonight."

Steve only smiled as Natasha's grip tightened on the knife she was using to slice up potatoes. When she turned to face Tony his smirk faltered a bit, his gaze instantly zeroing in on the blade. "Why don't _you_ go upstairs and play 'CEO' before I start cutting more than potatoes?"

Tony's lips twitched down at the barely veiled threat but after a minute he seemed to think better of replying sarcastically. Instead his mouth straightened out and he nodded. "Okay. I'm going to go upstairs and do something CEO-related."

A part of Steve's brain was irked by Natasha pointing a knife at his mate but a bigger part of him knew that she wouldn't actually do anything despite the fact that she was fully capable. He waved as Tony ducked back out of the room and only gave Natasha a short _look_ as they turned back around to face the counter. The redhead smiled and went back to dicing potatoes. "Admit it, you didn't want him hanging around here heckling us anymore than I did."

"You might be right."

They fell back into a comfortable pattern and continued to work side-by-side. More minutes ticked by until JARVIS announced another arrival just as the doorbell rang. "_Agent Phil Coulson has arrived at the house._"

Steve wiped his hands off on a towel, flipped it over his shoulder, and began to walk out of the kitchen but before he reached the doorway the sound of little footsteps raced down the stairs and scampered for the front door. He made it into the foyer in time to see Peter push himself up onto his tip-toes to grab the door handle and pull it open. "Phil!"

The senior agent was standing on the other side of the door in his suit, looking like he had driven over straight from the SHIELD offices. Seeing Peter's grin he offered the boy one of his small, calm smiles. "Hello, Peter. How are you doing?"

"Good! Are you gonna eat dinner with us?"

"Yes. Is that alright?" Steve smiled at the man's question. He had made it sound like he was legitimately asking Peter's permission. He was almost curious what would happen if his son said 'no' but knew that Peter would never give him the chance to find out.

Sure enough, "Yeah! You should come in!"

"Thank you."

Steve and Phil exchanged a smile and a polite nod as Peter grabbed the man's hand and tugged him over the threshold into their home. It was rare to see Peter acting this outgoing around a non-pack-member. Usually he was fairly withdrawn and cautious, undoubtedly a product of his terrible experience with Hydra. But it made sense. Peter had known Coulson before he had even met Steve and Tony and his happiness at seeing the SHIELD agent spoke of how much care the man had taken to help all of Hydra's victims heal. "Hi Phil, I'm glad you could make it."

"Thank you for having me over. The house looks nice."

Right. This was the first time Phil had ever been to the Stark Mansion in person. "Thanks—"

Before Steve could continue, Peter bounced up and tugged again on Phil's hand. "—Pop made me pick up all my toys. You wanna see them? They're upstairs in my room."

Steve smiled apologetically at Phil then turned to look at Peter. "Now Peter, I don't think—"

Steve was interrupted for a second time, but this time by Phil. "It's okay. I would love to see your toys, Peter."

Well, Steve had tried to give the agent a way out but it seemed like he hadn't needed his help. Phil appeared genuinely content to follow Peter up the stairs, the small boy already nearly as strong as the human as he led him back to his room. But there were a few more things Steve had to take care of before dinner got on the table so he meandered his way back into the kitchen.

He offered to take over for Natasha so she could have a little quiet time before the mild chaos of the meal started. There really wasn't much left to do after all of her early help so she took him up on it and left him on his own to go get cleaned up and enjoy a few more minutes of silence before everyone gathered at the dining table.

Natasha got a few minutes of silence. Steve not so much. It seemed like Natasha had barely made it out of the room before another noise reached his ears. The sound of heavy footsteps coming down the staircase echoed into the kitchen and Steve didn't even need to look up to know who was coming. Since Thor wasn't around the only other person who made that much noise was Tony. It was sort of ironic given that Tony was a Panther and _could_ be nearly silent as he walked. He just belligerently chose to do the opposite most days.

Tony slunk into the room, looked around as if to check that Steve was alone, then thumbed back toward the staircase as he appeared in the doorway. "Did Peter just kidnap Coulson?"

"It seems like it. But he went pretty willingly."

Tony snorted and walked across the room only to jump up so that he was sitting on top of the counter next to where Steve was working. "I think that suit is sewn onto his skin."

"Be nice."

"'Be nice'?" Tony reached across Steve's cutting board to where he had pulled the steaks off and was letting them rest. "This is me being nice. I let you invite him over, didn't I?"

Tony growled as Steve swatted his hands away from the steaks without missing a beat. "Be unusually nice."

"Then Coulson will just think something's wrong."

"True."

Just like Natasha had warned him, Tony lingered in the kitchen, not helping, just talking. Except she had been wrong about Steve not wanting Tony around. Even like this it was simply nice to be able to have a moment alone with his mate in a simple domestic setting. For that small amount of time it made him feel like what they had was a normal, everyday relationship. That Tony wasn't a famous CEO, that they both weren't active field agents for SHIELD. Those moments didn't come around too often.

Soon enough though, the food was finished and Steve called everyone to the table after he had Tony help him set the table. Peter was quick to drag Phil back down into the dining room and Clint was right on their heels. Bruce and Natasha arrived not long after.

Phil hummed appreciatively as he took his first bite of the steak Steve had made. "The food is delicious."

Tony shrugged from his spot next to Steve. "The vegetables are for you."

"Tony…" Steve frowned and bumped Tony's leg under the table.

"As if he hadn't figured that out already."

Clint smirked. "Then why did you need to say it?"

"I wasn't talking to you, birdbrain."

Clint sat up a little straighter and scowled. "Hey!"

The argument between Tony and Clint wasn't unusual but Steve still felt the need to lean over to Phil and whisper an apology. "I'm sorry."

The man gently shook his head and there was still a small smile on his lips. "It's fine. It's been a while since I've had such lively discussion during dinner so it's actually kind of nice."

Setting down her fork, Natasha turned to Coulson with a deadpan expression. "Can we switch dinners?"

Bruce grinned. "Trust me, this is nothing. We're all on good behavior."

Across the table Peter sat up a little taller in his booster seat with a wide smile on his face. "I'm being good!"

Steve nodded. "Yes, _you_ are." Peter was being very good. It was his Dad who was causing most of the problems.

The emphasis Steve had made didn't escape Tony and the Cat scoffed. "If you think that's all it's going to take to shame me into keeping my mouth shut you have another thing coming."

Steve knew that better than anyone but kept that to himself. Sometimes the best way to win a fight with Tony was to simply not engage. Usually if he didn't get the sort of reaction he wanted he'd get bored and move on. In this case Steve's strategy was somewhat thrown off by the fact that Clint was there to continue to rile Tony up but it didn't get too out of hand. Despite what Tony had said they clearly were both behaving better than they would have had a guest not been present.

Phil appeared to enjoy himself throughout the meal though and when it was finished and everyone began to excuse themselves from the table, Steve caught the man's eye and was happy to find that the agent seemed in no real rush to leave.

Tony was another matter. The Panther was one of the first ones to jump up from the table and barely remembered to clear away his dishes before brushing by Steve as he headed out of the dining room. "I'm going down to the shop."

Steve wasn't surprised that Tony wasn't sticking around to help him entertain Coulson. Phil was more of Steve's guest anyway and he figured that Tony's way of contributing was not asking Steve to get rid of him. "Alright. Do you have a project going or…?"

Steve let his voice trail off in question. Tony shook his head and seemed to understand what Steve was really asking. "Not right now. You can have JARVIS call me when you're heading to bed." If Tony had been working on a project there would have been a chance that the Cat might not have made it back to bed at all that night. When Tony was just down there tinkering he usually came up to their bedroom pretty willingly.

"Good."

Peter perked up in his chair. "Can I come with you, Dad?"

Tony paused and really thought for a moment—probably trying to remember if there was anything dangerous lying about in his workshop—before he shrugged and nodded. "Sure, for a little while. Then it'll be time to get you up to bed according to your Pop's schedule."

"Aww!"

"I know, I know. It's totally unfair. Your Pop's a tyrant."

Steve wanted to frown at Tony but couldn't quite muster the strength to force the small smile off his face as Tony bent down and scooped Peter up out of his booster seat. The rest of the pack didn't take too long to disperse after that, Bruce taking a few more minutes to make sure all the dishes were put away. Clint lingered a bit, possibly waiting around to eavesdrop on what Steve and Phil were going to talk about, but Natasha dragged him away to give them a little one-on-one time. Honestly, Steve wouldn't have minded if the Hawk—or any of them—stayed. They weren't going to talk about anything confidential. But a part of him did appreciate it. He liked talking with Phil and it wasn't often they had the chance to speak in a non-business setting.

Steve turned back to the man in question and motioned towards the door. "If you wouldn't mind waiting a bit we could head into the living room to go over that paperwork."

"I don't mind at all."

But while they were still near the kitchen, "Can I get you get you some coffee first?" Wolves weren't always known to have great manners but Steve could try to be a good host.

Phil looked startled at the offer before a small, happy smile slipped onto his face. "Yes, please."

Steve smiled in return. He had enough practice with Tony's overly-complicated coffee machine over the years that it didn't take him more than a few minutes to have two mugs full of regular coffee ready to go and he was able to lead Phil across the main floor of the house to one of the front rooms designed more for entertaining guests. All Steve cared about though was that it was a little bit away from the noisier areas of the house and had a comfortable couch.

Motioning for Coulson to take a seat, Steve set his mug down on the coffee table then waved back towards the foyer. "Let me go grab the papers." He had them up in the bedroom. He had wanted to review them one more time last night before he went to bed, just to make sure that everything was in order before he officially turned the report over to SHIELD.

Steve came back downstairs to find Phil sitting on the couch exactly where he had left him, sipping contentedly at his coffee as he waited for it to cool. Taking the seat next to him on the couch, Steve passed the folder over to the SHIELD agent. "Here's my report from the Cincinnati mission."

"Thank you." Setting the folder on his lap, Phil seemed happy to momentarily ignore work and gazed instead at a large framed photograph hanging on the far side of the room. It was a picture of the whole pack from last autumn. Pepper had taken it during one of the last barbeques they had before the weather had turned. Everyone, even Thor and Loki, had been there that day and somehow Pepper had gotten them all to stand still long enough to get them all in frame for the photo. Even Peter who had been constantly on the move and who hadn't wanted to stand still for anything. "Peter is doing very well."

"I think so." Steve hoped so. He and Tony, and everyone else, they were all doing their best.

Phil turned away from the photo to meet Steve's eyes with a calm confidence that instantly set all of Steve's uncertainties at ease. "He is. He is well adjusted, he's settled in, he's comfortable with not just you and Tony but everyone else in your pack. It's obvious that he's been given anything a boy his age could hope for."

Steve knew that part was true. Maybe a little too true sometimes. Shaking his head, Steve grabbed his own coffee cup off of the table and used it to try and hide the dry smile that he couldn't keep off of his lips. "Tony's very good about buying him everything he could need, though we're trying not to spoil him too much."

"I wasn't just talking about physical objects. You've taken him in as your own, provided him with love and security. I never had any doubts but it is good to see."

So that's what he had meant. Steve nodded thoughtfully. They have given Peter a lot but Peter had given back, even if the boy didn't realize it. He had filled a need in Steve's heart and in his Wolf's soul. Peter might not be their biological child but Steve loved him as much as if he were. "He really has become like our son. He is a great kid; I can't imagine life without him anymore."

"I'm glad he made it through." Phil tilted his head then leaned in closer to Steve as his voice fell almost to a whisper. "We're never supposed to have favorites in any sense at SHIELD, but out of all of the Shifters we saved from Hydra, Peter had always a bit special to me ever since they all regained consciousness. It is a real pleasure to see him doing as well as he is."

Steve could feel the sincerity in Phil's words but what he had said was sobering. Steve never forgot where Peter had come from and how he had come to them but the mention of Hydra and all the others they had in their custody brought back such a strong memory of finding all of Hydra's victims in that lab that Steve could almost taste the antibacterial stench that had hung heavy in the air.

He must have fallen silent for a moment and was brought back to the present when Phil softly nudged his leg. "There's something else on your mind."

It wasn't a question so much as a statement and Steve couldn't deny that it was true. "Yes, there is…How are the rest of the children doing? Have they all found homes?" It still bothered Steve to know that while they had given Peter a home there were still multiple others who SHIELD had been trying to place in safe, caring environments.

"Yes. In fact, the majority of them were placed into a single foster home."

"Really?" Steve couldn't even imagine-"Who took them in?"

"It was one of the adults who Hydra also had captured and experimented on. He ended up mating with one of the other adults during our rehabilitation program here at SHIELD and together they decided to house the kids who weren't quickly being placed in homes."

"Can two people really take care of that many children? Peter is wonderful, but dealing with the fallout of what Hydra did to him isn't always easy for the whole pack, and he's just one person." Even if they were all well behaved and well-adjusted they would all have special needs as far as the care they would require.

Phil nodded in agreement. "I had the same thought, as did my supervisors. But he came from a wealthy family in England and has the resources to do it. We still send agents over to check on everyone's well-being but so far they seem to be doing alright."

Steve perked up. "Could you get me their information? I'd really like to go check on them."

It didn't take long for Phil to catch on to what Steve's plan was. "As a SHIELD agent you do have the authority to access the information but I have to remind you that this is all confidential and sensitive material. I don't want their identities getting out into the public, just like I'm sure you don't want Peter's name to be associated with Hydra."

"No" That was the last thing any of them wanted. Tony had been hesitant enough to tell the media that Peter was a Shifter; neither of them had any desire to tell them about Peter's past. It was something private that they didn't want anyone to ever use against him. They decided to leave it up to Peter as he grew older who he wanted to tell his story to. "You don't have to worry, I'll absolutely respect their privacy."

"I know you will." Phil paused for a moment then reached into the pocket in his suit and pulled out his smart phone. A few seconds later he pulled up a picture of a young man and handed it to Steve to get a better look at. "His name is Charles Xavier and his mate's name is Erik."

Steve's brows rose as he scrolled through what turned out to be Xavier's SHIELD file. "They're both men?"

Phil smiled at that. "You and Tony aren't the only homosexual Shifter couples out there. They are also both Wolves, Erik is an alpha and Charles is an omega."

Steve's brows rose further still. "An omega? It's been a while since I've been around one of them." Omegas were rare among Wolves. Steve had never had one in his pack or had ever been personally acquainted with one but he occasionally would encounter an omega Wolf in his day-to-day life. As an alpha it was always a bit of a jarring experience to catch their scent.

Phil kept his smile but there was a serious glint in his eyes as he took his phone back. "Mind yourself when you're over there. From what I remember, Erik is rather protective of Charles and I can't imagine that's changed since they left SHIELD's care."

"Of course." If Charles was already mated it would be easier to ignore some of that instinctual draw.

"Then I can probably arrange a meeting between you."

"That would be great."

Their conversation fell to a lull and they both sensed that Phil's visit was over. Making sure to collect the file Steve had brought down for him, Phil rose to his feet and Steve was quick to do the same. "Thank you very much for inviting me for dinner, Steve. It was an unexpected offer but very appreciated."

"Feel free to drop by anytime. "

"Thank you, but—"

Steve interrupted before the man was able to offer too much protest. "I mean it. You're a member of this, admittedly unconventional family. We're always happy to have you."

Phil opened his mouth again then decided against whatever he had been about to say. Instead he just offered Steve one more smile that reached all the way to his eyes. "Thank you." This time Steve could tell that the agent genuinely meant it.

Steve led the agent to the door and waved him goodbye. Once he made sure the man had made it to his car and was heading off, Steve walked back inside then smiled. "JARVIS, can you let Tony know that—you know what? Never mind. I'm just going to talk to him myself."

"_Very good, Sir_. _I will unlock the workshop for you._"

"Thanks."

Steve jogged down the steps to Tony's workshop. Sure enough, JARVIS had kept his word and unlocked the door for him, the glass panel sliding open as Steve approached it. Tony had his music on like usual but it was relatively quiet, the beats softly thrumming through the air and almost overshadowed by the television. The news lit up the large screen at the closest end of the room but Steve didn't pay it too much attention. A quick scan of the workshop showed that Tony himself was near the center of the cavernous room where he had pulled over three tables and had a variety of small mechanical parts scattered across them. He was alone so he must have sent Peter back upstairs at some point during Steve and Phil's talk which was probably for the best since it was already getting late.

His mate had glanced up as soon as the door slid open but had already returned his attention back to his work by the time Steve had started to walk over to him. "Phil just left."

The Cat snorted. "He took his time."

"We were talking."

"Uh-huh…"

"He's going to facilitate a meeting between us and another couple who adopted the other children from Hydra."

"Uh-huh…"

Steve frowned and leaned up against one of Tony's workbenches. "Are you listening to me or are you just answering back with a vague response whenever I stop talking for a moment?"

"Uh-huh."

Sighing, Steve put his hand on his hip. "I can't tell if you're not listening or if you're just being difficult now. _Tony_."

That got his attention. Tony spun back around to look at him with an annoyed scowl on his face. "_What_?"

"Phil's going to arrange a meeting between us and the two other Shifters who adopted the majority of the children Hydra had."

"What? Why?"

That answered his question if Tony had been listening earlier. "Because I want to meet them. I want to know how they and the children are doing. So we're going."

"How did_ I_ get involved with this?"

"Because you're my mate."

Tony gave him an unimpressed look before his eyes caught on something over Steve's shoulder. Steve turned to look back and saw that the news had switched over to a new story. And this one had a fancy graphic pasted between the two news anchors calling it "The Shifter Dilemma".

Tony stepped forward to stand next to Steve and nodded towards the screen. "J, turn up the volume on that thing will you?"

"_Of course_, _Sir_."

Almost instantly the large room filled with the voice of the lead female anchor and they watched as the camera cut to a pan over a normal looking row of suburban houses. "_—and one local resident has taken notice. He, his wife, and three children had been living in their suburban neighborhood for almost fifteen years when suddenly everything changed. The house next door went up for sale and two months later its new owner moves in, and, as it turned out, they were anything but normal. For weeks he didn't suspect anything was wrong until one night he saw the new owner's child playing out in his backyard and watched as the little girl shifted into a young Wolf." _

Steve tensed as the picture jumped to a pre-recorded interview with the man in question. _"I couldn't believe what I was seeing. They seemed so normal. But when I saw the girl shift I knew the mom and dad had to be Wolves too." _

The camera cut back to the view of the houses as the news anchor narrated. _"Before he was able to speak with the girl her mother had pulled her back into the house but he wasn't going to pretend the incident had never happened." _

The image jumped back to the man and he looked very excited, his expression drawn tight with righteous indignation. _"So I grab my gun, just to be safe, you know? And I walk next door and knock on the door. The dad opened it and I swear I'd never been so scared in my life now that I knew what he was. But I had my family to think about, you know? So I ask him point blank if he was a Shifter and he was still trying to lie to me, saying he was human. But now that I knew I could tell just from looking in his eyes that he was a Wolf." _

The camera cut back to the newsroom where the two anchors gave each other concerned, consolatory looks. _"The man called the city but they say there's nothing they can do as long as his new neighbors don't break any real laws. According to our latest correspondence the man has become so frustrated that he is now considering moving_."

Tony waved his hand and the audio cut off, instantly replaced again by his music. There was a heavy frown on his face and an angry look in his eyes. "That's disgusting."

Steve nodded. He couldn't disagree. It really was disgusting. That man had confronted his neighbor with what was undoubtedly a loaded weapon and the poor Shifter, knowing that his wife and daughter had been seen, was so frightened that he had desperately lied to try and ensure his safety. And the police, who had probably only gotten the human's side of the story, hadn't done anything to protect the Shifter family that was actually being threatened.

Tony angrily searched through the pile of loose parts on the table in front of him before giving up and crossing his arms over his chest. "I don't get it. That human asshole shouldn't have cared in the first place but I don't see why the Wolf would have even bothered to pretend they were human too. Just let that dick deal with it or move."

Steve couldn't stop a smart remark from slipping passed his lips. "Yeah, why would anyone pretend to be human?"

It was a low-blow and they both knew it. Tony's eyes narrowed and the ways they flashed would have made Steve regret what he had said if he hadn't meant it. "Hey, I'm different. And we've talked about this."

"I know." They had talked about it extensively but what it came down to was that Tony was doing what he felt he needed to both for himself and for his company. Steve didn't always like the choice his mate made but he respected it and so tried to support Tony as best he could. And despite the fact that Tony had just poked a hole in his own reasoning Steve didn't want to start up a new debate right then. It was too late in the day for that and he didn't want them going to bed mad at each other. "How about we just turn in for the night? Are you at a decent stopping point?"

Tony heaved a breath and Steve could tell he wasn't the only one happy that the conversation hadn't devolved into an argument. "It's as good a stopping point as any. Let's just go to bed."

O~O~O~O~O

Tony raised a condescending brow as the GPS led them further back into the gently sloping hills near Westchester, New York until Steve finally turned down a side-road and up to a large gate. From the look of the gate itself and the hint of the manor home he could see through the bars it looked like one of those old-money estates that Tony had always scoffed at. It was the sort of society that—despite the amount of money and prestige they had—the Stark family was never able to fit into. Howard had earned all of his money through hard work and ingenuity; it hadn't been passed down to him through innumerous generations. Tony had never minded the new-money label. He had actually been proud of the fact that his father and he had earned everything they owned through their own blood, sweat, and genius intellects rather than inheriting it from some lord or duke from "the Old Country". But faced now with the admittedly impressive gate, Tony had to give it to this Xavier guy that there was a certain aura that wealth alone couldn't replicate.

Steve rolled down the window and dialed in an access code SHIELD had sent to them. As promised, the gate swung open and they drove through. As he rolled his window back up, Steve glanced over at Tony with a small frown on his face. "I still don't see why you need to shut your scent off."

Tony subconsciously adjusted his suit jacket. It was one of the few he owned that he stored separate from his main wardrobe, sealed off from the scents in the rest of the house. He pulled it out whenever he thought he might be meeting with a Shifter and didn't want them sniffing him out. As it happened, it was the same one he wore when he had first met Steve but Tony didn't expect the Wolf to remember that. "We don't know these people. What if they run to the press to sell me out as a Shifter?"

"But they're Shifters too."

Tony snorted. "You think that makes them saints?"

"No. But they should be more understanding."

"They should be but I'm not gonna bet on it. I think being Tony Stark, billionaire philanthropist is enough." Tony knew that Steve was probably right. After Steve had alerted him to this little meet-and-greet he and Coulson had set up, Tony had immediately jumped on the internet and then on the SHIELD database which honestly needed to have its firewall updated. It hadn't changed at all since he broke in over a year ago.

The basics of what he learned matched what Coulson had explained to Steve. Both Xavier and his mate were victims of Hydra's experimentations and had been fucked up by it just like Peter had. Tony hadn't looked too much into what had happened to them because he didn't want those mental images in his head but whatever Hydra had done had left Xavier wheelchair bound. Xavier seemed like he had been a pretty interesting guy before Hydra had gotten their claws into him though. He was an omega but was apparently smart enough and persistent enough to earn a PhD from Oxford so he had joined Bruce in a very exclusive club of Wolves with advanced degrees.

His mate was a little more typical on paper. Erik Lensherr was of German ancestry and like many other alpha Wolves had gone into the Army. During their recovery process Erik—according to SHIELD's files—had become almost obsessively possessive of Charles and the two had soon after sealed the deal when Charles went into heat and Erik basically busted down the doors of SHIELD's medical ward to get to him. Judging by what they had been through and the way they had determinedly kept a low-profile afterwards, Tony was sure the last thing that they would want to do was bring the spotlight on themselves by outing him as a Panther but it wasn't a risk he was willing to take.

When they pulled up the long driveway there were already two figures—one standing tall and the other peacefully sitting in a wheelchair—waiting for them out in front of a stone-covered mansion. The thing looked like a castle. It was actually pretty ridiculous, and that was saying something coming from him. As they got closer it seemed like their hosts had similar feelings about their car if their tight expressions was anything to go by. Despite Steve's protests Tony had insisted that they take the red sports car that he had upgraded to have all the best add-ons. Because the best first impression was a memorable one and he had a reputation to live up to.

Steve parked and they stepped out to head directly over to their hosts. Tony lingered behind to observe as Steve strode straight towards the other Wolves. Even from where he was standing, Tony could smell them. Panthers weren't as notorious for following their noses as Wolves were but the scents would have been impossible for any Shifter to miss and hung in the air in thick layers. It was very obvious that Xavier's family had been Shifters for a long time and that they had lived on the property for generations. It put Tony on edge and he ran a mental check to make sure the walls guarding his own scent were holding strong.

He didn't let any of his discomfort show on his face though and strolled behind Steve with as much confidence as his mate genuinely possessed. Steve was already making introductions and shaking hands with Xavier and Lensherr so Tony got in line to do the same. Xavier looked sweet and gentle up close but there was a sharp intelligence in his eyes that Tony immediately recognized because he had seen the same glint in his own eyes. Tony wasn't very familiar with omega Shifters but there was definitely a unique aura around him. Erik Lensherr was almost his mate's opposite. He was tall with dark hair and darker eyes. Where the air almost felt soft around Xavier, walking within feet of Erik felt like running face first into a metal plate. It knocked Tony off balance as he tried to figure out why Steve had always smelled so enticing when this other alpha Wolf's scent was downright unpleasant.

Erik's smile was stiff and cold and his handshake wasn't much different. He seemed to completely disregard Tony as soon as they were introduced, not at all impressed by his celebrity status or wealth, but instead kept his eyes trained on Steve with feigned disinterest. But he couldn't have been more obvious if he tried.

Erik was clearly displeased with having another alpha Wolf in his home and watched every move Steve made when he was greeting Charles. Tony congratulated himself on his excellent decision to close off his scent as he moved to greet Xavier; who knew how unwelcoming their host would be if he learned he was inviting _two_ alphas into his house?

They were escorted into his home and Tony was impressed not by the interior, as opulent as it was, but rather by the fact that Steve wasn't gawking. Apparently he had gotten a little jaded since they had started living together. But the more Tony watched Steve the more he realized that although he wasn't craning his head around to look at the carved banister on the grand staircase they passed or the clawed-foot, marble-topped hall table, Steve's gaze was locked on something else entirely. Or, to be specific, a certain someone else.

Steve and Xavier kept the silence at bay by keeping up small talk as they were led towards a formal sitting room. The omega's English accent seemed far too appropriate for the setting and Tony had the sudden urge to find a way to ruin the spell the Wolf was casting. He certainly didn't feel like contributing to the conversation and it looked like neither did Erik. The sullen alpha Wolf motioned for them to sit when they reached a beautifully upholstered couch sitting across from an equally beautifully made chair with a low-standing dark mahogany table resting in between. Tony flopped down into the seat offered to him and just barely managed to keep from swinging his feet up onto the table but it was more out of respect for the furniture than his hosts.

They had just all sat down when Xavier sat up a bit straighter and blinked. "Ah, I forgot to prepare something to drink. Erik? Can you come with me to the kitchen?"

"Of course." The answer had come immediately and Erik turned back to give them a frigid smile. "Stay here." Xavier's accent was charming but even Tony had to admit that the undercurrent of a continental European upbringing made Erik's voice smooth as silk. It would have been much better suited on a Panther or a Lion. It was wasted on a dog.

Tony glanced over and narrowed his eyes and watched as Steve's hands tightened on his knees when Charles wheeled back out from behind the table. Erik rose to his feet as well and followed close behind his mate but the way Steve tracked Charles with his eyes made it seem like Steve wished _he_ was the one guarding the omega instead. Tony's eyes narrowed even more and as soon as the other two Wolves were out of the room Tony crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't like him…"

Tony knew Steve knew which 'him' he was talking about. Steve huffed out in annoyance and kept his voice quiet. "We've barely even met them."

"Then stop _looking _at him like that. I'm sitting right here."

"I'm not looking at him like anything."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Really, you're going to say that to my face?"

"Tony, yes." Steve growled before wiping his hands down his khaki pants and folding them defensively over his chest. "It's just, been a while since I've been around an omega."

And it was clear that it was having an effect on Steve. His nose hadn't stopped twitching since they sat down and he looked like he was five seconds away from panting like an overheated dog. "It's also been a while since I punched you, but I'm about to settle that one out really quickly."

Steve frowned and opened his mouth to respond but before he could get a word out they both heard the sound of their hosts returning echoing down the hall and his jaw snapped shut.

Tony heaved a sigh as Xavier and Eric walked—or in Xavier's case, rolled—back into the room. Xavier was all apologetic smiles as he cleared a spot on the table for Erik to set down the silver tray he was carrying. "I'm sorry for the wait. Tea?" Tea? Seriously? Was he trying to win an award for being British?

Steve sprang up in his seat with more enthusiasm that a man who hadn't taken a drink in three days would show. "Please, thank you."

Tony declined the cup Xavier offered him with a dismissive shake of his head. "I'm more of a coffee guy." And so was Steve, the kiss-ass.

Once everyone but Tony had a cup to tea in their hands they were able to get down to business. And Tony was all too ready to get it over with. "So, I think we all know why we're here." And they better all remember it.

Erik cast Tony an indifferent glance. He might as well have been a bug on the wall for the amount of care the Wolf paid him. "Of course we do. You are here for the same reason every other SHIELD agent has ever visited. To ensure that we are not _abusing_ the children we have taken into our guardianship."

By the tone of Erik's voice it was obvious their experience with SHIELD hadn't always been an entirely pleasant experience. No surprise there. They could be overbearing. "Yeah, that and to make sure they aren't totally running the place. You Hydra experiments can be hard to handle."

Steve and Erik both snarled out a warning but Xavier just tilted his head. "Do you have experience in such things?"

"A bit." Almost twenty three months now, but who was counting?

"I didn't realize that your philanthropy extended so far, Mr. Stark."

"It does when your," Tony's voice stuttered. He had been about to say 'mate'. But that would have ruined the whole reason behind hiding his scent in the first place. "…when your partner is the one who saved all of you."

Xavier's mouth fell open and Erik's eyes sharpened as a memory sparked. He turned his gaze onto Steve who didn't do anything to deny the charge. "So that is where I heard your name. Agent Steve Rogers. I read it in the reports SHIELD gave me about the raid."

It said a lot that the two other Wolves hadn't connected those dots before. _Everyone_, human and Shifter, knew that Steve had been part of that raid. No one knew that Tony had been too, but that was beside the point. The media had made a big deal out of Steve's heroism that day and if Xavier and Erik didn't remember any of it that didn't mean that they were stupid. It just meant that they had been so deeply involved in their own recovery that they hadn't been conscious enough at the time to realize what was happening in the wider world.

Tony answered for Steve. "That's right. So where are they, anyway? I figured this whole house would be swarming with special needs Shifter kids."

Xavier only smiled. "I prefer to call them 'gifted'."

"I bet you would…"

Erik narrowed his eyes and growled at Tony. "I wouldn't expect you to understand _anything_ about what we went through."

"Erik…" Xavier quieted his mate with a gentle touch. "And I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Tony smirked as the alpha's glowered. But inside he couldn't help but be fascinated by the omega's natural ability to calm Erik. It was definitely something else…If Steve had tried that with him it would have just led into a loud argument.

"The children are at school and the younger ones are currently upstairs taking a nap. We have a friend watching them. You see, Mr. Stark, while Erik and I are the main caregivers, we have been lucky enough to create a strong network of friends and acquaintances who provide us with the support we need to make sure that every child we have is well cared for. Admittedly the manor has turned into more of a boarding home than a family house but we are able to provide them with structure in a caring, protective environment. It is my goal to help each and every one of them to grow into themselves and their changed abilities in a healthy way knowing that Erik and I understand precisely the struggles they are going through. But it seems that we're out of tea."

Erik immediately made to rise to his feet but Xavier stilled him with a slight wave of his hand. "Mr. Stark, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind helping me in the kitchen?"

Tony snorted and Steve kicked him under the table. Tony bit back a snarl then rolled his eyes. Apparently since Steve was the one who was 'out' about being an alpha that meant he was going to be the one relegated to kitchen duty.

Tony reluctantly stood and trudged in after Xavier, eying the rest of the house as the omega led them to the kitchen. It was a ways away from the sitting room, the layout of the manor probably still a hold-over from when the kitchen was in the part of the mansion dedicated to servants. When they got there though the cooking space had been entirely overhauled to a functional, modern kitchen. Looking around, Tony could see parts of it that had clearly been modified for Xavier when he returned to try and accommodate his wheelchair.

"I can refill the pot but the extra tea is in that cupboard. Could you reach it for me?"

"Sure." Tony didn't really want to but he wasn't a complete dick. Besides, the way he figured it by doing the omega a favor it gave him license to ask a couple of questions.

Mentally cursing the fact that he had to stretch to reach the tea, Tony managed to snag it. "So," closing the cabinet, Tony handed Xavier the bag of loose leaf tea, "why did you really take in the kids?"

Xavier met his eyes for a moment before leaning over the stove to grab the kettle and refill the teapot. "The experiments Hydra performed on me left me sterile. Even as a male, as an omega it would have been possible for me to have a family but now…" he knit his brows then shook his head. "A family is all I ever wanted. I didn't have one of my own growing up, you see. When Erik came to me I knew together he and I might still be able to make my dream a reality, even if the children we raised weren't our own. When I heard of the children needing a home it seemed as if fate was on our side."

Tony fell silent for a minute as the Wolf fussed with the tea and the tea pot. He didn't really have anything smart to say about that. He could hear the hurt in Charles's voice and didn't want to think about what it would be like for an omega who couldn't have children. As an alpha, he couldn't even imagine it. So Tony changed the topic. "What did Hydra do to you, anyway?"

Charles paused before setting the tea pot down on the counter. "Many things. I don't even remember it all, the list was so extensive. But I came away unable to shift but more…empathetic."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The omega pursed his lips. "Omegas—Wolves at least—have always been excellent at reading emotions, of feeling what others feel in a sort of sympathetic bond. Whatever Hydra did to me, it amplified this trait in me."

Tony raised a brow. "Meaning?"

Charles raised his eyes again to meet his gaze. "Put simply, Mr. Stark, it has developed to the point where I no longer even need to see or smell a person to know what they are feeling. To know exactly what emotions are going through their heads down to the point where I have surpassed simply being empathetic and have become an empath. Essentially, if I focus hard enough I can read minds."

Was he making fun of him? But he looked so serious. "I don't understand how that's even possible."

"Neither do I. But it is nevertheless true."

"Bullshit."

"I wish it was. Just as dearly as you wish society could accept you for who _you_ truly are."

Tony tensed and he felt the walls he was keeping up shudder. "What did you say?"

"I'm sorry." The Wolf held up his hands. "I try not to do it without permission, but it seemed as if the only way to show you was a direct demonstration. You needn't worry though, I have no interest what so ever in revealing to anyone that you are a Cat."

"I'm not—"

"Just as I have no interest in your mate. I am quite happy in my current relationship."

"That doesn't prove anything. You could have gotten into SHIELD's files." And he couldn't have missed the way that Steve was looking at him. That made a lot more sense than Charles mind-reading his insecurities.

"The files are encrypted. No one can access them without the proper authorization."

"I could."

Charles paused again and then his eyes widened in surprise. He didn't have to be telepathic to hear the truth in Tony's words. But then his shock settled out into a pleased little smile Tony couldn't even begin to interpret. "I'll have to remember that."

Sensing that they were done, Tony grabbed the tea pot off of the counter and they made their way back towards their respective mates. They remained quiet but Tony perked up as his ears caught voices drifting into the hall from the sitting room.

"Dare I ask what you are doing with a man like Stark?"

They were talking about him. Oh, this was bound to be good.

"There's a lot more to him than you think."

"He's _human_."

Erik had spit the word out as if it was a curse. Next to him Charles blushed a pretty shade a pink and opened his mouth to murmur an apology but Tony waved it off. He wasn't that bothered by it. He had certainly been called worse. He just hadn't realized how much Erik hated humans, and by extension what he was pretending to be. But it made some sense. Even without knowing anything about the Wolf's interactions with humans before Hydra it had probably mostly been human researchers who had played Picasso with his genetic code and broke his future mate's legs. Erik and Steve both had to hear and smell that they were coming at that point but if Erik thought he was human then he wouldn't know that Tony would be able to eavesdrop.

Steve did though. "No matter what he is, Tony is the best mate I could have asked for."

"To each their own. But you are a strong enough alpha to have attracted any omega you could have wanted."

"And I still chose him."

Tony felt a warm feeling well up in his chest despite himself then stiffened up as he saw a pleased look wash over Charles's own face. Damn mind readers. Xavier chuckled then wheeled out. As soon as he appeared he immediately had Erik's attention. "You two were gone for a while."

Charles gave a small shrug. "We were just having a chat."

Erik and Steve both looked surprised, one of Erik's eyebrows rising imperiously. "About?"

"This and that. The children mostly."

Satisfied that the omega was going to keep their little heart-to-heart quiet—at least for the moment—Tony played along and redirected the conversation. "And what have you two been doing with yourselves?"

Steve gave him a look that said 'You know perfectly well what we were doing' but what actually came out of his mouth was "Nothing much."

"Huh. Would have thought that the two of you would have had more in common, what with both of you being alphas and Wolfy and everything."

Steve sighed but a small smile still played on his lips as Tony sat down so close to him that their legs pressed together and their shoulders bumped. After that, their talk settled out to the logistics of raising children and dealing with the trauma that they went through. Unlike before, Tony allowed the others to take over control of the conversation and was relatively content to fall into the background. Steve was good about keeping him involved just enough, especially when Erik unconsciously—or intentionally, it was hard to tell—cut him out.

Their meeting was only supposed to last an hour and when it started Tony was sure that it was going to feel like a lifetime. But before he knew it Charles looked down at his watch and said that the older kids would be coming back from school soon and Tony and Steve took it as their cue to leave.

They were walked back to the front door and Steve bowed his head a little too deep when he said his good-byes to Charles. "It was very nice to meet you, Charles."

His nod to Erik was much smaller but no less sincere. "Erik." They shook hands and as soon as Steve let go, Erik immediately reached down to wrap his arm around Charles shoulders and his omega folded into him. That suited Tony just fine. In his mind it wouldn't do Steve any harm to figure out that Xavier was off limits.

Tony didn't bother shaking hands, just slipped his sunglasses on and flipped his hand up in a lazy wave. "Take care of those kids."

Xavier nodded back as they walked out the door. "We will, Mr. Stark. We're counting on you to do the same with yours."

Steve looked back over his shoulder and almost seemed to grudgingly follow Tony back to the car. Tony rolled his eyes and jumped into the driver's seat and had the engine revved before Steve even slid his butt all the way into the passenger's seat. He had started to almost like Xavier at the end there but he would definitely be happy if they didn't see either of the other Wolves for another year or two or three.

Steve still seemed entranced as Tony pulled them back onto the main highway headed for home but Tony couldn't bring himself to snap his mate out of it. He just sat there and glared at the road.

After almost half an hour of driving Steve finally seemed to realize something was off and blinked over at Tony. "You're quiet."

Tony sneered. "I wonder why."

"Are you going to tell me or do I just have to guess?"

"You have to guess?"

Steve sighed. "Are you still worked up over the fact that Charles is an omega?"

"Got it in one, give the man a prize."

"I'm_ not_ interested in him. Most of all because he's mated."

"'Most of all'?" Tony's fingers tightened on the wheel. "If he wasn't mated, would you have gone for him?"

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"I know something…" Tony grumbled under his voice.

But of course Steve caught it. "Are you doing this just to be difficult?"

"No. I have many, many other ways to be difficult."

"I don't want you to be upset with me for something you believe I was thinking."

"Fine." They both knew it wasn't fine but Steve seemed all too willing to let the matter drop. But that was alright. It just gave Tony the time he needed to think about how to get him back.

O~O~O~O

By the time they got back to the house the sun had set over an hour ago and the stillness that had settled over his property stood in sharp contrast to the sparks racing through Tony's skin. He was still mad but more than that he was horny as hell because he had figured out how to make sure that he was going to be the only one Steve thought about tonight.

Natasha gave them each a once over as they walked inside and pursed her lips. "So, how'd your meeting go?"

"It went well."

"Fine."

They had answered simultaneously and Steve glared at Tony's dismissive tone.

Natasha smirked. "I'm glad it went 'well'. Before you go off to do…whatever you're going to do I'll go ahead and let you know that Bruce got Peter to bed about half an hour ago. I just checked in on him and he's sound asleep."

Perfect. "Great. Thanks. Now if you wouldn't mind…" Tony made a shooing motion with his hand. Steve's eyes widened at his sheer gall and Natasha raised a brow. But she seemed willing to amuse him for the evening and sauntered back towards the media room.

Steve rounded on him. "What was that about?

"Don't worry about it."

Sighing, Steve shook his head and turned back around to follow after Natasha. "I don't even know—" Before he could take even two steps, Tony reached up and grabbed a tight hold on the back of Steve's neck. Steve flinched in surprise "Tony, what—?"

Tony rushed forward so that he was pressed up against Steve's back and could hiss into his ear. "You didn't think you were going to get off that easy, did you?"

"I, I don't—"

Tightening his grip on Steve's neck, Tony cut off his stuttering and redirected him towards the stairs. "Let's go, upstairs, come on."

Steve glanced back at him and understanding slowly lit his eyes. "Can I get some food first?"

"Nope. March."

And he made Steve march, all the way up the stairs and into their bedroom. He had been thinking about this during the whole drive and he wasn't going to wait another minute. All of that tea Steve drank would just have to keep him sustained until after Tony was done with him.

Within a minute of closing and locking the door behind them, Tony had them both stripped and he pushed Steve down onto his stomach on the mattress. Steve growled and frowned back over his shoulder as Tony crawled up behind him. Tony sucked in a breath then slowly smiled as he nuzzled the curve of Steve's shoulder and nosed the line of his back to the base of his spine. He saw the muscles on Steve's back tense then relax and knew despite Steve's frown that he was okay with this. That, and if Steve really wanted to fight it he was strong enough to flip them over and have Tony pinned instead.

A pleased hum rumbled in Tony's chest and bit lightly at Steve's hips and after a moment of hesitation Steve lifted them up into the air.

Tony's prep job was sloppy but effective and by the end of it Steve was panting, his cheeks flushed red. Reaching up, Tony cupped the back of Steve's neck and pressed his head down into the bed, though making sure that his face was turned to the side so that his mate could breathe. Steve growled again but didn't move to shake Tony off, just dug his fingers into the sheets as Tony moved in and entered him in one swift surge forward.

Tony growled and bit his lip so hard he thought it would bleed to try and keep in his moans as he paused to let Steve adjust just a bit before slowly increasing his pace. Sweat dripped off of his forehead and chest, rolling down his chin and arms and getting all over Steve beneath him. Then a long, drawn-out whimper escaped from Steve's throat and Tony gasped. He leaned down and licked Steve's shoulder blade and _tasted _the pheromones, his sweat mixed thick with Tony's scenting oil. Steve grunted then whimpered again as the air around them grew thick with the odor.

After that Tony sort of just lost it. He blamed it entirely on Steve though because, really, who could blame him? He came with a strangled growl and collapsed on top of Steve, watching as his mate bit down on his arm to keep in a howl as he reached his own climax. Steve's arms gave out and they collapsed in a heap onto the mattress. Steve grunted then rolled over and wrapped his arms around Tony's waist and buried his face against Tony's neck to bite lightly at his throat. Tony growled and wiggled in Steve's grasp, feeling entirely too oversensitive and Steve chuckled hoarsely and nuzzled behind Tony's ear. "I need to make you jealous more often."

"You're hilarious…"

"Who said I was joking?"

Tony snarled and dug his fingers into Steve's arms. "You try a stunt like that on purpose and I'm stripping you down and fucking you right in front of them. Is that what you want? You want me to fuck you with those dick Wolves watching?"

"Tony! No!" Steve squirmed against his hold but not enough to actually dislodge him. "Knock it off."

"You sure? The idea's growing on me." Tony purred and pulled Steve back in close. "It would show them who you belong to." That it was Tony who reduced Agent Steve Rogers into a sweaty mess, who was able to claim the alpha Wolf in the most intimate way possible. Nobody else would ever be able to get that close. Nobody.

Steve swallowed before a small, teasing smile slipped onto his lips. "Watch what you say, Tony. You're starting to sound a little Wolf-ish."

"Blasphemy."

Steve laughed and Tony scowled and pinched him. "You think it's funny? Just wait until we run into some gorgeous, young, omega Cat and I make eyes at them all night."

Steve stopped laughing but there was still a teasing glint in his eye. "You wouldn't do that."

"How do you figure?"

"Because you're harder to impress than that."

Tony hummed to try and dislodge a lump that had settled in his throat. It turned out Steve knew him better than he thought. Sometimes that still freaked him out a bit. "You don't know what catches my eye."

Steve leaned in to nuzzle Tony's neck again. "I think I do. Plus, Wolves make sure to mark what's theirs. There's no omega in the world stupid enough to let you come onto them with this on your neck." An embarrassing thrill ran through Tony's veins as Steve bit down on the mark he had left on Tony's shoulder the night they mated.

Bringing himself back down from the small high he had just been sent on, Tony let out a long breath then grinned. "But you really got off on that omega?"

It took a moment for Steve to realize Tony had just bounced the topic back to Xavier but when he did he sighed and pushed himself up so that he could look Tony in the eye. "It was just a biological reaction. Drop it."

"I'm not going to drop it."

"Shh." Rolling over, Steve wrapped his arms around Tony and pressed a hand over his mouth.

Tony licked his palm then pried his fingers away in over-dramatized rebellion. "You can't shut me up that easy. I'm not some _omega_ you can push around."

Steve couldn't stop the laugh that burst out of him and he pulled his mate closer to him. "Jeez, Tony. Enough!"

Tony growled playfully and rolled on top of Steve, pinning him to the mattress by the shoulders even as Steve kept his arms wrapped tight around Tony's waist. "But an _omega_ wouldn't be able to wrestle you down like this."

Steve's grin softened. "No they wouldn't."

Tony huffed as he met Steve's eyes, swallowed, then leaned down and pressed their lips together in an unusually gentle kiss. Steve had let his eyes close as he saw Tony beginning to bend his head down and only opened them again when Tony pulled away after a long moment. Their gazes met again and looking into Tony's eyes Steve finally felt like Tony had forgiven him for any misdeeds. "…Can we go to bed now?"

"Yeah. Do I have to move?"

"…No."

Tony was all compact muscle but Steve would be able to support him all the same. "Good."

Letting the rest of his weight fall onto Steve, Tony buried his nose into the crook of Steve's neck to breathe in deep. Swallowing, Steve closed his eyes again and gently bumped his chin against Tony's forehead, at the same time bringing one hand up from Tony's waist to run his fingers through his mate's dark hair. It was a small moment of peace that they both knew they had earned.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks so much for everyone who reviewed the last chapter: AnonyPip, StonyShipper88, Whitewolfstar, and shine lots! I really appreciate getting all of your feedback. ^_^ I've been a bit busy but I tried to get this chapter out as quickly as I could. As a reminder, I often will post sneak-peeks of chapters on my Tumblr page and am still doing the "Ask Me" page for the "Chasing the Moon" universe also on Tumblr (links to both pages are on my profile page). But for now, onward to the chapter! I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 3

* * *

"Brethren! It brings me great joy to see you once more!"

Thor beamed at him as Steve moved in to give him a quick hug. Steve was smiling almost as broadly and stifled a grunt as Thor gave him a very enthusiastic pat on the back. Two days had passed since he and Tony had visited with Charles and Erik and their quiet day had exploded with activity when they had gotten a call at the airport from the Lion saying he and Loki were back in the States.

Pulling away from Steve, Thor craned his neck to peer around Steve's shoulder, a smile still on his face. "Where is the little one?"

As soon as he asked Steve heard tiny feet racing up from behind him and a second later Peter pushed his way past Steve's legs and leapt at Thor. And Peter could jump. Thor laughed as the small boy launched himself so he was about eyelevel and snagged him right out of the air.

"Oh look, you brought the killer with you."

Steve sighed and glanced over his shoulder as Tony walked up to the door, his hands stuffed into his pockets. Loki emerged from behind Thor's bulk. He had been completely hidden behind his mate's shoulders and frowned at the Panther, looking too aloof to be insulted. "It is good to see you as well, Stark."

When Loki had first begun to stay over, the Raven had been cautious, skirting around the rest of them as he got a lay of the land and figured out the chain of command. Over the last few months though he had begun to grow bolder and more comfortable in his own skin when he had the opportunity to be around them, probably knowing that Thor would be able and willing to defend him if he were ever truly threatened. Tony didn't care much for the Raven's change of heart and wasn't afraid to show it. "Just stay out of my way."

"Ah, I feel as welcome as ever."

Thor wasn't paying attention to either of them. He never really intervened unless things began to get heated. Instead the Lion was entirely focused on Peter, both of them laughing as Thor spun him around. "Look how much you have grown! You will be a strapping young lad before I know it."

Thor adored Peter and spoiled him more than Tony even did. Steve had often wondered to himself if Thor and Loki would ever try to have children of their own but had never asked the Lion about it. Either they were waiting, uninterested, or it was impossible for whatever reason. Loki was neither an alpha, a beta, nor an omega and while male Wolf omegas were able to get pregnant from their male alpha mates, Steve wasn't sure how that translated into Ravens' abilities. Steve had to admit, he was a little glad about it. As good as Thor could be, he wasn't sure how Loki would act as a father, or technically as a mother.

Once Thor stopping spinning, Steve moved to the side so that he could make his way into the house. "How long are you here for?"

Thor sighed, still holding Peter in his arms as the boy tried to crawl up and around his shoulders. "For a month at least. I have for the moment settled my affairs with my father's clan so I need not hurry back."

"Good to hear." It would be nice to have everyone under the same roof again.

Natasha, Bruce, and Clint all appeared from their respective hideaways at the sound of Thor's booming voice and they spent the afternoon catching up. After dinner they had all retired back into the media room, an unspoken agreement amongst all of them that now that the pack was all together again they should at least spend the night in each other's company before going to bed. Even Tony stayed and fiddled on his tablet while the rest of them talked and joked their way through a football game. Only Loki was absent. Steve didn't know where the Raven was but he wasn't too worried about it. Since Thor was so relaxed he had a suspicion that Loki was waiting up in the Lion's room.

Peter had been running in circles all day after Thor had gifted him with a bag full of Swedish candy and had finally crashed. He was out like a light. The boy was draped across Steve and Tony's laps, his knees resting on the top of Steve's thighs and his face buried against the fabric of the shirt covering Tony's stomach. He was snoring a bit which seemed to amuse Clint—who was sitting on the floor in front of the couch they were on—to no end.

Steve was distracted from a ridiculous story Thor was telling them about trying to get his luggage through airport security when he felt an elbow nudge his side. He looked over and Tony motioned towards his tablet screen, taking care not to jostle Peter around too much as he tilted it towards Steve. "We got another email from Coulson. It looks another job came in."

Steve frowned down at the bright white tablet screen and saw that Tony had the email opened. But the movie was playing and the mood was light and playful...He sighed. "Is it urgent?"

Lifting his brows, Tony flipped the tablet back around so that he was looking at it and closed the email. "No more than the rest of them. But I only looked at the subject line so who knows?"

Phil was pretty good about marking things that were truly time sensitive so a few more hours of this shouldn't hurt. "I'll look at it later tonight then."

The thought of another mission coming up settled into the back of his mind and Steve turned his attention back towards the movie and the conclusion of Thor's harrowing adventure with his luggage.

But eventually the movie ended and the stories winded down. Bruce was dozing off in his chair, his glasses sitting askew on his nose as he slumped over to the side. Tony was starting to fidget beside Steve and a bored expression was slowly washing over Natasha's face. Clint and Thor were still laughing about a joke Thor had told about five minutes ago and Steve figured that it was about time to start wrapping the night up.

The plan was going great until Steve tried to move. The second he did he woke Peter up. And he was _not_ happy. And then Tony wasn't happy because Peter rolled onto _him_ and started bawling as soon as Steve breathed the word "bed".

"Nooo, Dad, I wanna stay up!"

Tony hissed and tried to grab Peter's tiny hands as they battered his chest and he glared at Steve for waking Peter up. The rest of the pack save for Thor had conspicuously slipped out of the room at the first hint of a tantrum which left Tony and Steve to deal with it. Luckily Peter was still too small to do any real harm, though even when he was fully grown he'd probably never be as strong as either of them since they were alphas. Sighing as Peter kicked a small socked foot out at his shoulder, Tony slowly rose to his feet with Peter in his arms. "No can do, champ. Come on, let's go."

"Noooo! I don't wanna!" Large tears welled up in Peter's eyes and rolled down his cheeks as snot dripped down from his nose. It would have broken Steve's heart if he didn't know that Peter wasn't really upset or hurt. And this wasn't the first tantrum they'd encountered. "I don't wanna go to bed! I'm not tired."

Tony grimaced. "Trust me, you're exhausted. Otherwise you wouldn't be fighting this hard. Steve!" He swung around, Peter held outstretched in his hands like a tear-filled, snotty offering. "Help me out here, you know I'll just give up soon. Look at him. Oh, fu—" Tony sputtered as Peter squirmed around just enough to shoot a web right into his chest, getting the sticky fibers all over the front of his shirt.

Steve jumped forward and grabbed Peter from Tony only have him spin around and shoot another glob of webbing at his pants, sticking one of his shoes to the floor.

"No! I don't wanna…!"

He didn't really care about his shoes but Steve was going to put a stop to this before this got out of hand. He really shouldn't have let him have all that sugar today. "Peter, _enough_!"

The boy instantly cowed at the command—Steve had used his "alpha" voice—but he was still wiggling and sniffing. The webs had stopped flying but Steve was afraid that the yelling was about to start back up when Thor rose from his chair and strolled across the room with a small, knowing smile on his face.

"Please, allow me to assist you." Steve nodded and Thor stepped closer so that he could rest his hand on Peter's back as he addressed the boy directly. "Peter, the time has come for all to retire to their beds. If you agree to without complaint I shall tell you a story."

Steve felt Peter's chest heave before he leaned his head back to meet Steve's eyes. There were tears still welling up in his eyes but it seemed like Thor's offer had momentarily capped his tantrum. "C-can I, Pop?"

Usually Steve might not have been alright with someone other than him or Tony, especially another alpha, tucking in his son. But Thor was pack so if he thought he could get Peter to bed than Steve didn't have a problem with that. Once Peter got to this stage Steve was willing to take all the help they could get. "Of course. Make sure you're all cleaned up first."

Peter nodded sullenly and gripped onto Thor's shoulder as Steve transferred him into the Lion's arms. In turn, Thor smiled widely and he gently bounced Peter up and down until he drew a small giggle from the boy. "Come, dry your tears, young prince." Peter giggled again and wiped his hands over his face. Steve winced as all he did was smear snot around and snuck in to use his sleeve to clean his son's face off. "There! Now we shall get you ready for your rest. Would you like to ride atop my shoulders?"

Before Thor finished his question Peter had already crawled half-way up his head. "Yeah!"

Thor grinned and waited for him to settle, showing an amazing amount of patience as Peter gripped and pulled at his long hair to keep his balance. Then, after reaching one hand up to make sure that Peter would not fall off, he strolled out of the room looking entirely too regal for someone with a four-year-old wrapped around their head. Steve shook his head as he wondered at it. It must be a Cat ability because somehow Tony always managed the same thing.

Speaking of Tony…Steve turned back to look at his mate to see Tony tugging at the web still stuck to his chest, the corners of his mouth turned down in a concentrated frown as he struggled with the sticky strands. Then Steve remembered he had his own glob of webbing to deal with and looked down at his legs and his foot that was still stuck to the floor. Steve's jaw tightened and he tried jerking his foot back and up. The webbing stretched a few inches then snapped back tight, bringing his foot right back to the floor with it. He knew from experience that this was going to take a second person.

"Tony? Could you lend me a hand?"

Tony's chin bounced up before his frown morphed into a small, teasing smile. "Having a little trouble?"

That was pretty obvious. "Yeah. Stand next to me so I can get some leverage."

"Aww, the big bad alpha Wolf is stuck." Steve huffed out a growl at the remark but couldn't find it in himself to be mad as Tony walked over to him at the same time. Between the two of them they were able to wrench Steve's shoe free and afterwards Steve was more than ready to retire up to their room.

They stopped by Peter's first though to make sure that he was actually in bed. He was, and Thor was there next to him, waving his hands around as he reached an exciting moment in the story he was telling about an adventure he and Loki had when they were children. Peter was absolutely enthralled, staring up at the Lion with wide eyes with his arms gripping tight around his stuffed animal.

So Tony grabbed Steve's elbow and tugged him out and down the hall to their own bedroom. When they got inside and closed the door the first thing Tony did was tug his shirt off. Steve's gaze caught on the sight of his mate's exposed skin, the lightened scar tissue centered in his chest catching the dim light as Tony grimaced and shook out his shirt. Shaking it out had only made it bunch up more on itself. "This shit's never coming out. There's another shirt ruined."

Steve blinked a few times then realized that Tony had been speaking to him. You would think he would have been more accustomed to the sight of the Cat's naked torso but Tony was so self-conscious about his scar that even Steve rarely got to see it outside of the bed. Which was probably safest because now all he wanted to do was lick it. Then he would run his tongue down Tony's stomach and push down his pants—Catching himself, Steve cleared his throat and hoped that the low lighting hid his blush. "Just use it as one of your work shirts."

Tony scowled. "It's a button-down. Only you would think that's a shirt someone would want to weld in."

"Here, let me see it." Tony threw it at him and Steve almost missed catching it as his mate began to strip the rest of his clothing off. "We can send them to the dry cleaners." That's where Steve's pants were going. The shoes could be salvaged if he used enough elbow grease and shoe polish. This wasn't the first time Peter had gotten a bit wild with his aim.

Jumping onto his bed in nothing but his underwear, Tony scoffed. "And say that the stain is what exactly? 'Hello, I'd like to have this web-like material my son excreted onto my clothing removed from my Armani dress shirt please'."

Steve shrugged helplessly then put Tony's shirt down next to the hamper. His pants joined the pile a minute later. He was still going to take them to the folks at the cleaners. They were perfectly good pieces of clothing, it would be a shame not to at least try and salvage them. The rest of his clothes went in the hamper and then he climbed into bed beside Tony, the lights automatically darkening as he slipped under the covers. "Why were you wearing such a nice shirt anyway?" Steve doubted his mate had dressed up for Thor's arrival.

Tony seemed to sense what he was thinking and answered back with a defensive twinge to his voice. "I had a video conference this morning and Pepper threatened to hide my coffee at the office if I wore a graphics tee."

"Wow, she was really playing hardball."

"She knows my weaknesses."

An amused hum escaped Steve and he settled back against the pillows. He let his hand drift over to run across Tony's arm, stroking up and down his mate's muscled skin in a way he knew Tony found soothing even if he never admitted it. This was nice. Just laying here in the quiet with Tony's heat radiating out next to him. This is what he worked so hard to be able to protect and enjoy. This was what made everything worth it. Everything…Oh shoot. He had forgotten Coulson's email. Sighing, Steve pushed himself up to sit back against the headboard. "Can you pass me the tablet?"

Tony grunted and rolled over to blindly grab his tablet off of his bedside table then tossed it towards Steve's side of the bed. "Here…"

"Thanks."

Steve carefully unlocked Tony's tablet, wincing as his eyes flooded with the harsh blue-white light from the screen, and flipped through the applications until he found the one that accessed the email account that Tony had set up for him. With Tony's help he was getting more accustomed to using computers and Stark Tech. He still didn't prefer to do it but he could get by now which was a small blessing. Steve knew he wasn't dumb, he was just confused and Tony was a surprisingly good teacher when he actually got it in his mind to try. It probably helped that he was Steve's mate though; Steve wasn't sure if the Panther would have shown the same levels of tolerance for anyone else. Well, except for Peter but Peter was quickly taking after Tony as far as technological prowess went and didn't need any tutoring.

Steve frowned as he read through the email, his frown only deepening as he opened the mission file Coulson had attached to the message. It wasn't too bad, but it was involved, probably the most complex mission they had been given since Hydra.

"Tony."

Tony pulled the blankets tighter around his body and nestled his face up against Steve's neck as he gave a tired grunt of acknowledgment. "Hmm?"

When he spoke, his short beard tickled Steve's shoulder. It made him wish he didn't have to talk about work. "Tony, take a look at this."

"That's what mornings are for."

"Just a quick look."

Tony groaned against his skin. "Steve…"

He had to suck in a breath and let it out slowly. Tony had to know what affect he would have on Steve by doing that. But he wasn't going to let it distract him. "I want to talk it over with you."

"Now?"

"Why not? You're never actually that tired this early." That was true. Tony was almost nocturnal when he was allowed to run on his own schedule and usually the only way to get him to sleep was sex. Which Steve was not complaining about. Otherwise he just tended to lay in bed until Steve fell asleep then popped back up and went down to his workshop until about three or four in the morning when he would fall back into bed.

Tony turned his head so that he could talk easier. "I don't have to deal with Thor coming back and giving my kid a sugar-high everyday either." Steve nudged him with the tablet and finally Tony gave in. "Let me see it."

Obstinately staying pressed as tightly as possible against Steve's chest, Tony grudgingly accepted his tablet back. Steve watched him scroll through the email and distractedly ran his fingers through Tony's mussed dark hair. It didn't take long him long to finish and when he did he switched the tablet off and shoved it back onto his nightstand.

"Alright, I read it. What do you want to talk about?"

"We need the whole team out for this one." If Steve had read it right they were going to have to bring Bruce_ and_ Tony for this one. There were advanced technologies that would need to be dealt with and he would have to have everyone else with him.

"What are we going to do about Peter?" Tony frowned and nestled back under the blankets. "Pepper is out in California for a factory tour. That's why we did the video conference."

Right. Peter. Steve blinked up at the ceiling in surprise. This was the first time that they were ever faced with this problem. There were a few times where they had all had business to attend to but Pepper had always been their default.

Steve's silence must have been enough of an answer for Tony because he scowled and tried again. "What about Coulson?"

Steve knew that Tony was grasping at straws to even bring Coulson up as an option. "No, Phil told me he was going to a conference about Shifters in Vancouver. I think Peggy was attending as well."

"That's probably why he mentioned Canada in the email then. I thought he was just wishing for a lame vacation…." They both sighed and fell silent for a few moments. Steve felt Tony's hand brush accidently against his beneath the sheets and caught his mate's fingers in his own as he thought. But Tony found an answer before Steve did, but it was one that Steve didn't care much for. "We can take Peter with us and leave him in the hotel room."

"By himself?"

"I know it's not ideal, but he's almost five years old now. And he's smart."

"Tony…" Steve didn't know what to say. He didn't like it but he couldn't think up a better reason why than Peter was too young. Which he was. But Tony already knew that. And Steve still hadn't thought of a better idea. The thought that they could take Peter out to stay with Charles and Erik flickered through his mind but he quickly dismissed it. There was no way Tony would agree to it and Steve himself didn't even know if he'd trust their son with people they had only just met, even if he liked them.

Tony shook his head. "I'm not staying behind on this one. I need to help with the security systems. So unless _you_ want to sit it out, we didn't leave ourselves with a lot of choices."

There was no way Steve could sit this one out either. "Fine. But we make it a quick one."

O~O~O~O

Steve rose with the sun the next morning and was changing back to his clothes before Tony so much as twitched. "JARVIS?" He had gotten better at addressing the AI over the years. "Another mission came up. Have everyone meet down in the living room in twenty minutes."

Behind him Tony let out a long moan into his pillow. "Twenty minutes, are you serious…? Start without me…"

"I'll start when you show up downstairs in twenty minutes." He looked back up towards the ceiling and pretended like he didn't see Tony flipping him off. "Did you get that, JARVIS?"

"_Yes, Sir."_ He almost sounded amused. At times Steve thought that JARVIS _enjoyed_ it when Steve talked back to Tony which was something only an AI that Tony created could emote. "_Shall I also wake Master Peter?_"

"No, let him sleep." It would be easier to have a proper meeting if Peter slept through it.

"_Yes, Sir_."

Steve pushed open the door to their room and smiled a bit to himself as he heard JARVIS's voice seep out through the doors of the other rooms along the hallway. "_Good morning. It is currently seven twenty one a.m. Your presence is required downstairs in the living room in twenty minutes for a mission briefing._"

The announcement was met with a series of groans and grumbles. He wasn't surprised though when the door to Natasha's room swung open as he walked by and the redhead stuck her head out. There were a few strands of hair out of place but otherwise there was no sign that she hadn't been awake for hours. Which she very well might have been. Even after a few years of living in close quarters with her, Steve still didn't know how often the Spider slept or how long she slept for. "I suppose the wake-up call was your doing?"

"That's right." There was no reason to deny the charge.

"Do you want casual clothes or mission gear on for the briefing?"

"Casual is fine. We'll have time to prep and pack afterwards."

She disappeared back into her room with a nod and Steve continued on his way. He took his time downstairs making up a large pot of coffee then went into the living room and had JARVIS project the details of the mission as holograms on the wall. Bruce was the first to shuffle into the room. The beta was looking more asleep than awake but he made a good attempt to appear alert as he poured himself an extra large cup of coffee. Natasha came in next, followed by Thor, then Clint. The last to show up was Tony and he arrived in his boxers and an old t-shirt. Steve reminded himself that he was lucky that his mate had showed up with anything on at all considering he had left him mostly naked in their bed and dutifully ignored the juvenile behavior. He was only three minutes late after all. That wasn't too bad.

Clearing his throat, Steve motioned up towards the projection of the mission file and enlarged the map Coulson had attached to it with a quick swipe of his hands. "Now that we're all here, let's get started. According to SHIELD's database, the situation is that a militant Wolf pack has set up a small operation near the industrial area near Norfolk, Virginia. Similar to the pack we encountered in Cincinnati, this one has been trying to claim territory in the city and has roughed up some local humans to show they mean business. Unlike the pack in Cincinnati these Wolves have increased the effectiveness of their efforts by creating an organized network more like the mafia than a street gang. Their den is also much better equipped. It's centered around a large house closer to downtown but SHIELD intelligence has shown that the alpha is supposed to be holding a meeting with his pack here, at a separate location that they appear to use to store and fence stolen goods." It took Steve a minute to figure out how to shrink the image of the map and then enlarge a satellite image of the new location. "They apparently have a complex security system even at the storehouse which is why we'll definitely need Tony and Bruce to be coming with us. And given the number of Wolves who are supposed to be on the premise we'll need everyone else in order to control the entrances and exits and manage the pack once we gain access."

Bruce tilted his head to the side, looking much more conscious now that he had a little caffeine in his system. "Why did SHIELD let them build up so much infrastructure before sending us out?"

It was a good question. Steve had wondered the same thing himself at first. "Apparently the pack was pretty good about keeping their work underground. They were being more cautious than other packs have been in the past because of the raised awareness among humans of Shifter activity. They only started making their bigger plays once they thought they were strong enough to manage any government response."

They spent a few minutes going through a series of questions and answers and starting to sketch out a strategy about how to approach the mission. As Steve expected, he, Thor, and Tony each had very different opinions on the matter and they expressed those opinions loudly. Bruce, Natasha, and Clint actually kept them on track so Steve was very glad that they were there. Eventually the question arose about what their lodging situation would be and Steve felt it was time to break the news. Usually they would be able to bunk in the local SHIELD office but given the circumstances… "We'll be staying in a hotel this time."

Natasha and Clint both looked up sharply and Steve met their eyes. "Peter will be coming with us."

"Do you think it wise?" Thor furrowed his brow and Natasha and Clint shared a look as Steve turn to answer the Lion.

"No, but given the state of things and the short notice we don't really have another choice."

Bruce gazed at them for a long moment then gave a slow nod. He knew they wouldn't have done it if they had been able to come up with a better option. "If it has to happen then we'll make it work."

Steve nodded in thanks. "Alright. Then let's keep planning. We're leaving early this afternoon so we can arrive in Norfolk tonight. We'll have a day to observe and set everything up and then we're making our move tomorrow night." They had a lot to go over and not much time to do it in.

O~O~O~O

Tony was ecstatic. He had missed this.

Well, not _this_. This whole prepping for a road trip thing he could do without. "Alright, everyone in the van."

By "van" he meant the tactical SHIELD vehicle they had been loaned for the mission that had two seats up from and then two rows of bench seats that could be dropped down into the floor of the van to allow access to the banks of screens and technical equipment that lined the walls of the van. It was actually a bit surreal to be installing a toddler's car seat in the center of the middle bench with all the weapons and tactical gear he knew they had stored in the back.

Peter pouted a bit as Steve carefully buckled him in, giving each strap a gentle tug to make sure it was secure. "I wanna sit with you!" He had been on edge all day. Peter knew something was going on but all Steve and Tony wanted to tell him was that they were going "to work". They tried not to lie to him but neither of them wanted Peter to get scared about what was happening while they were away from home.

"Sorry, Pete. The front seats are for big people only."

Steve sighed then caved like the big softie he was. "What if I come sit back there with you?"

Peter instantly cheered up but Tony jerked back to stare at Steve. "Wait, who's sitting shotgun then?" He had been planning on doing to driving and if Steve wasn't sitting up front with him that left—

Clint grinned and his hand shot up in the air as Thor and Natasha clamored into the back of the van, apparently neither of them wanting to deal with Tony for over six hours any more than he wanted to deal with them. "Oh, I call it!"

Yeah, there was no way. "Like hell you do. Bruce, get up here."

Bruce shrugged apologetically and moved to sit in the front passenger seat as Clint's mouth fell open, a protest falling off of his lips. "But—"

"No. Clint, I'm not sitting with you up here for that long. End of argument."

Clint balked but let Natasha tug him back into the middle bench so that he was sitting in front of her and beside Peter's car seat. "Why do we always get the cheap seats?"

Tony smirked back at them in the rearview mirror as he started the vehicle up. The thing had a lot of power under the hood. The SHIELD agent who had dropped it off said that it could ram its way through chain link fences and the sides of wood-framed buildings and Tony believed him. "Because you're not alphas?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"If you guys were Wolves or Cats you'd be betas at best."

Natasha raised a brow as Clint's lips twisted down into a confused frown. "I thought Bruce was the beta?"

Steve corrected him as he buckled himself in beside Peter. "Bruce is my Beta. It's more of a title to denote him and gives him a certain amount of authority in the pack. But there can be more than one beta—not to say that you'd be one. Most Wolf packs are made predominately from betas. It's the most common hierarchical orientation to have."

Thor shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. "Wolves are far too complicated. Cats are much simpler, the great majority are either alpha or omega. We have very few betas to muddy the waters."

Perking up in his seat, Peter twisted around as far as he could to try and look at Thor as the Lion spoke, then swung back around to peer at Steve. "What am I?"

Steve smiled. "You're a beta, Pete, just like Uncle Bruce."

"Is that good?"

Bruce glanced back over his shoulder with a soft smile. "I don't mind it."

O~O~O~O

By the time they reached Norfolk all of them were more than ready to get out of the car. Tony was no exception and put the van in park as quick as he could manage before practically throwing himself out of the driver's seat and into the parking lot of the hotel they would be staying at. It was dark, it was cold, it had just started to rain, and his eyes were tired from staring at the road all afternoon. But he had volunteered for a reason. Well, multiple reasons. The first was that he liked their new loaner van and he wanted to be the first one to drive the thing. The second was that tonight Steve, Thor, Natasha, and Clint would be staking out their targets while he and Bruce got all the tech set up at the hotel and Tony had driven so that the four of them could be in peak condition to last throughout the night.

So after he made sure that the rooms were available and ready, Steve immediately ran off with the rest of the pack, leaving Tony and Bruce behind to unpack what they had left inside the van and to get everything ready for the main operation tomorrow night.

Tony sighed as he pulled another heavy briefcase out of the back and lugged it to one of their two rooms. Tony had booked them two, one where Tony, Steve, Peter, and Bruce would be sleeping in and the other where Natasha, Clint, and Thor would be sleeping. If they ever got the chance to sleep. "Hey Bruce, I bet you can get all of this in one load if you shifted."

The beta grimaced as he shouldered open the door to the room they would be sharing. "Yeah, I probably could. But it would probably be torn to shreds before I could get it in the room."

"Details."

Despite Tony's grumbling between the two of them they managed to get all the gear safely inside the room in about ten minutes. The hotel was higher end—Tony wasn't about to stay in anything else by choice—but was the sort where each room had a door that opened up to the parking lot. He had made sure to book specifically in that style of hotel to avoid the awkward event of dragging boxes of equipment through interior hallways. Or from attracting attention by having a pack's worth of special ops agents tromping through the lobby. Then Tony got to spend the next five hours trying to keep Peter entertained while trying to set up all of their electronics at the same time. Peter was a ball of energy, all excited over getting to stay in the hotel, and turned both queen beds into two trampolines. He tried turning on the TV but in the end he sent Bruce to try to calm Peter back down. Bruce succeeded but he also succeeded in falling asleep next to small boy, both Wolves sprawled out next to each other on top of one of the beds. Tony thought of waking Bruce up but after a minute just snapped a quick picture for blackmail purposes with his phone and got back to work. If he woke Bruce up, Peter might wake back up too and he would be able to get more work done alone than he would with Bruce if Peter started bouncing off the walls again.

Steve and the others came back around four in the morning. Tony was still up, sort of. He might have been resting his eyes but jolted up in his seat as he heard someone approaching their door. Steve didn't seem surprised to see that he was still up but barely managed to mutter something about getting the information they needed before stripping down to his underwear and rolling onto the unoccupied bed. Then he stared over at Tony until Tony rolled his eyes, walked the few steps across the room, and crawled under the covers next to his mate.

Humming happily, Steve nosed at Tony's jaw as his arm wrapped around to pull him closer. He smelled tired and like grease and low tide. He must have been down near the waterfront. "Mm, Tony…you get any sleep yet?"

"Just waiting on you." It wasn't a complete lie. He had mostly been focused on putting the finishing touches on his hacking systems but he hadn't wanted to turn in until he knew that Steve had gotten back safely.

Steve smiled exhaustedly and pressed his lips against Tony's forehead. Tony closed his eyes and tried to resist the little rush of warmth that pulsed through his body. There was a part of him that still resented how far Steve had worked his way into his heart. Even though they had been a mated pair for more than three years Tony still wasn't used to it. He didn't know if he ever would be. But Steve was worth it.

Somehow he was always worth it.

O~O~O~O

"No, Dad. It's rainy outside!"

It was the day of the mission. After everyone had woken back up they had gone through the mission strategy over and over until they had the plan memorized. Tony and Bruce had demonstrated he system hacker they had developed and had accidentally shut down the hotel's wifi for half an hour. Okay, it was entirely intentional but Tony had needed to prove a point to Clint. Speaking of Clint, he and Natasha had spent the later part of the afternoon checking, cleaning, and re-checking the small arsenal of weapons they had brought along but Steve had insisted that they keep all of them in the room they were sharing with Thor. He hadn't wanted Peter to see any of them. But even though they had kept their son shielded from what was happening, he still knew something was wrong now that they were getting ready to go.

"Hey, it's fine, little dog. You'll be okay. Look," Tony lay across the bed so that he could pass his son his stuffed toy, "here's Snow." Peter had given it that name after its white fur. Tony still didn't understand why anyone with half a brain would make a kid's toy out of white material because it was a bitch to try to keep the thing clean. But Peter loved it. "And I brought nearly our entire movie collection and got you a pizza. Can you be a big boy for us and stay here until we get back?"

Peter hugged the stuffed wolf tight against his chest. "When're you coming back?"

"In a few hours." Hopefully. "That's not too long."

"Yes it is!"

"We'll be back before you know it. Here." Tony took off his watch and wrapped it around Peter's wrist. It was adjustable but even at its smallest setting it still hung loose on the boy's wrist. But it wasn't going to fall off and that's all that mattered. Leaning in, Tony reached around Peter and pointed at the watch. "If there is any trouble while we're gone, or if you just want someone to talk to, press this button on the side of the watch. You see it?"

Peter rested his weight back against Tony and nodded silently.

"Let's try it. Go ahead and press the button."

Peter frowned but reached out with his small hands and carefully pressed down on the largest button on the right side of the watch face. There was a second of silence before the line connected. "_How may I be of service?"_

The frown on Peter's face lifted just a bit at the sound of the AI's familiar voice and Tony smiled. "See?" Resting his chin on Peter's shoulder, Tony leaned over him to speak into the watch. "JARVIS, Peter's going to be wearing the watch until future notice so you're on call for the next few hours."

"_Yes, Sir. Is there anything I can do for you, Master Peter?"_

Peter shook his head but then realized that he was going to have to speak. "N-no."

"_Please do not hesitate to contact me should you need anything_."

"Okay."

"Thanks, J."

Steve chose that moment to emerge from the bathroom. He had been doing an obsessively thorough survey of the room. Even as he walked back into the main room he was still distracted, his nose twitching as if he would be able to smell the invisible dangers still threatening their son. "I checked all the windows and the front door. Everything will be locked and secure once we lock the door on our way out." Sighing, Steve gave the room one more look before walking reluctantly over to the bed Tony and Peter were on. "Will you be okay?"

Peter gave a hesitant nod and Steve bent down to kiss the top of Peter's hair then bumped their foreheads together. "We'll be back as soon as we can. Be good, Peter. Stay in the room and don't open the door for anyone."

The boy pouted as Steve pulled away but nodded. "Okay, Pop…"

All three of them looked over as the door to the room opened and Bruce peered inside. He had been over in the other room helping Thor, Natasha, and Clint finish getting prepped. "Alright. Steve, Tony, the others are ready to go. Are we all settled in here?"

Tony nodded. "Yeah. I think so." As he started to get up from the bed, Peter grabbed onto his sleeve. Tony faltered then reached down at gently pried his tiny fingers off of his arm. He would be fine.

Steve swallowed down a sigh and managed to offer his son a confident smile instead. Thank god Steve could because Tony definitely didn't feel up to it. "We love you, Peter. We'll be back soon."

They both hesitated as they heard Peter let out a small whimper as they closed the door. He would be fine. Peter would be fine. They'd be back before he knew it. Tony set his jaw then resolutely pulled the door all the way shut and gave it a couple extra tugs to make sure that it was locked and was going to stay that way.

Peter would be fine.

His Dad left him alone all the time, when he was even younger than Peter. Why was it so hard for Tony to do it?

"Come on, Steve, let's get to the car. The others are waiting."

Steve nodded but it took him an extra second to actually step away from the door.

He seemed only half there as he climbed into the passenger's seat and as much as Tony could sympathize he knew that Steve was going to get his head back into the game pretty quickly. They all needed to be on the ball tonight. His mate's hands tightened from where he had them resting in his lap and Tony heard him bite back a snarl. "This doesn't feel right."

Tony shook his head as he turned the ignition on. "Preaching to the choir…"

He caught Thor frowning behind them in the rearview mirror. "Then we shall simply finish this mission before we are missed."

"Thor's right. Besides," Clint grinned from here he was perched in the back. "I want some of that pizza you got for Peter. It made me hungry." The Hawk's blatant attempt to lighten the mood was overdone but still appreciated.

Their stake-out the night before paid off and Steve directed Tony to a spot they could keep the van hidden but still maintain a line of sight with the storehouse. Tony had been right the night before; they were down by the waterfront in a sketchy part of town, the perfect place for a rogue Wolf pack to be fencing illegal goods. From the outside the building almost looked abandoned but Tony knew better. He had read SHEILD's file on this place. It was wired top to bottom with security and surveillance systems. One of the pack members was apparently well versed in technology which was rare in a Wolf and these guys clearly made the most of it.

Once Tony parked the van everyone silently began to move. The seats in the back folded down making room for Clint, Natasha, Thor, and Steve to slip on their tactical gear and strap on their weapons. Bruce and Tony held back but only until Clint and Natasha had hopped out. Then Tony made his move just as Thor clamored out the back. Tony had "the plan" drilled into his brain just as well as they rest of them had but there was one small thing he intended to change.

He didn't want to wait back in the van.

Unfortunately Steve noticed.

Steve's brow knit together as he finished strapping on a slim, SHIELD issue Kevlar vest that seemed to barely fit over his wide frame. "Tony, you stay out here with Bruce."

Tony waved his hands in the air with an affronted expression plastered on his face, like this was the first time he had ever heard of such a thing. "Are you kidding me? You want me to stay out here."

"It's been a while since you've been out with us on a mission, so yes, I want you to stay out here."

"Taking a break from missions hasn't turned me into a lazy asshole, Steve. "

"I didn't say it did. But stay out here." Steve didn't give Tony the chance to continue the argument and jumped out the back.

Bruce raised a brow but kept silence as Tony lunged after him with a growl. "Hey! Get back here!" As Steve jogged to catch up with Thor, Natasha, and Clint, Tony stuck his head out the door and whispered harshly after his mate, knowing that the Wolf would still be able to hear. "Fuck you, Steve!"

Bruce continued to eye him as Tony pulled his head back into the van and nearly slammed the door shut. "I thought you two promised not to fight right before going on a mission."

"Shut up…" Bruce was referring back to a conversation he and Steve about half a year ago. The last time he and Steve had gone on a mission together in fact. There may or may not have had an argument before the mission started and Tony may or may not almost got himself shot. Then Steve had a "moment" and made Tony agree never to fight like that again. It obviously didn't last. "He knows I mean I love him. Now help me get the systems online."

Bruce obediently shuffled into the back of the van and started switching on the computers. "I'm starting to think that I like it better when you stay at home."

"Shut up." Not that it bothered Tony that _Bruce_ got to go out on more missions than him. Not at all.

"It's alright. I know that means 'you love me'."

Tony snorted and turned away to hide his smile. "I've created a monster."

"Technically I'd be a monster anyway, but you certainly didn't help."

"You smell like wet dog."

O~O~O~O

Steve motioned for Thor to be quiet as they approached the storehouse. Everything was quiet but he could smell the scent of other Wolves. At least ten of them had passed through within the last hour and Steve knew that SHIELD's information was correct. Between him, Thor, Natasha, and Clint last night they had been able to identify all of the Wolves who were supposed to be attending their alpha's meeting. But, no…he could only identify the ten scents. There were supposed to be fourteen.

There was a light _thump_ on the roof above them and he knew that meant that Natasha and Clint were getting into position. Which meant that it was time for him and Thor to separate. They couldn't call this off just because four of the Wolves were missing. With a quick wave of his hand, Steve waved for Thor to head to the second entrance to the building around back. Tony should have everything up and running in the van by now. He was counting on it.

O~O~O~O

Tony anxiously tapped his foot on the metal panel floor of the van. His eyes were glued to the screens showing a live feed and a heat vision camera side by side. Everything was running like it should. He and Bruce had gotten communications and cameras up and knocked out the pack's alarm system, which wasn't as easy as it sounded. They had had a series of guards against hacking into it wirelessly but it had only taken Tony a few minutes to get through it. He had invented a similar system almost a decade ago so it hadn't been too hard to break this one.

Just moments ago Steve had given the signal and they had stormed the building. Before he did, Tony had been able to confirm through their infrared imaging that there were in fact a large number of Shifters inside. Everything was going to plan except for the four missing Shifters. But there was no sign that they were even on the property. Nothing had gone wrong. But Tony couldn't help but worry.

His focus had never left what he knew was Steve's form, his multi-colored body heat signature racing across the screen. At the same time Tony's fingers never stopped flying over his keyboard, programming small adjustments for the cameras or rerouting the data flow to ensure that they maintained control over the systems. Bruce was all nervous energy beside him as he handled his station and Tony knew that he should be calm so that Bruce would calm down more but he never had the patience for this sort of thing and all he wanted to do was run out there and Steve was an ass for making him stay outside and-

Tony's thoughts stuttered as Steve's voice burst through his headset. "_There's one going out through a hidden door on the south side of the building_!"

Tony was on his feet before Steve even finished speaking. "I got it!"

"_What, Tony_—!"

Muting his headset with a quick press of a button, Tony quickly switched all of his programs to continue automatically and a second later raced over to the van door and pulled it open. "See ya, Bruce!"

He heard Bruce call after him but didn't spend the time to figure out what he had said as he shut the door behind him. In his defense he could tell from the cameras that everyone else had their hands full. Clint had been controlling the mob from above and Natasha had swung down to help Thor where he was fighting right in the middle of the crowd. Steve was supposed to focus his attention on capturing the enterprising alpha which left no one to chase down the one who slipped out the side. They should have figured a crime ring with the intelligence to put that sort of security system together might have a way to sneak out in case of a raid.

Tony sprinted around the corner of the buildings and swore as he nearly wiped out on an oily puddle but his quick reflexes kept him upright. Rain was pounding down on him but he could hardly feel the drops on his skin. Adrenaline sang through his veins and a grim smile worked its way onto Tony's face. This is what he had been waiting for: the feel of the hunt rushing through him. He didn't get to go on as many missions as Steve did but Tony made sure to enjoy the ones he did make it onto to the fullest. This was definitely better than sitting behind a desk all day.

Tony managed to get to the southern side of the building just as a panel of the exterior wall popped out and a Wolf burst through. Not wanting to give him the chance to shift and run, Tony leapt for him and ended up tumbling over the Wolf as they both crashed into the wet pavement. The Wolf was quick on his feet and was able to hop up before Tony but before he could take a single step the hidden door slammed back open and Steve bolted out just as Tony rolled back onto his feet.

That was when Tony got his first real whiff and realized that the escaping Wolf was in fact the alpha of the rogue pack.

Steve squared off with him and swung a punch. Tony knew Steve was stronger but the other was all agility and dodged it. He looked like he was about to run again so Tony darted forward and tackled him back to the ground. Tony felt his jeans tear at his knees but only tightened his grip on the Alpha Wolf, wishing that he had claws to dig into the bastard's skin to keep him in place. Steve was there a second later and it took the two of them to wrestle him into submission.

There was mud, rain, and oil everywhere and Tony was pretty sure his knees were bleeding but they were able to keep the alpha pinned even as he thrashed against them. Steve was up by his face, a tight, serious expression drawn across his face as his hands kept a tight grip on the other Wolf's shoulders. "Stop running! You're just making things worse for yourself!"

The Wolf spat in Steve's face.

Before Steve could react Tony lunged forward and slammed his head back, choking him with an arm held up tight against his windpipe. "You're one _stupid_ son of a bitch." His voice had lowered into a dangerous hiss and he could feel his Panther writhing to burst out and shred the other alpha for daring to disrespect his mate like that.

The only thing that kept Tony in control was when he looked over and saw that Steve was maintaining his composure. He simply wiped his face off on his shoulder and returned to his interrogation. "Where is the rest of your pack?"

"Go fuck yourself."

Tony growled and pressed his arm harder against the Wolf's windpipe to the point where he was unable to breathe for a moment. Finally he let up, if only so that he would be able to answer them. "He asked you a question. I strongly suggest you start talking."

The Wolf glowered then stared daggers at Steve as he spoke again. "You're only making it worse by refusing to cooperate. If you tell us where they are I'll see what I can do about reducing their charges." Steve glanced back at Tony. "What are they looking at right now?"

Tony smirked. "I'd say about twenty years a piece, easy."

Steve nodded then turned his gaze back onto the other Wolf. "Do you want your whole pack to spend twenty years in prison? For the first time in a very long time, choose to do what's right for them."

Something almost imperceptible changed in the Wolf's expression and Tony knew that Steve had found his weak point. Apparently even alpha Wolves like this evil bastard cared about their pack. They were all so predictable. There seemed to be a small war going on in this one's head and a solid minute must have passed in silence. Tony was about to give in and tell Steve to just knock him out so they could drag him into custody when something in the alpha seemed to break. He suddenly sagged in their hold and Tony would have thought that it was a trick if not for the fact that Wolves were rarely that clever in a fight. But neither him nor Steve loosened their grip any as the other Wolf finally spoke again, his voice so quiet they had to lean in to hear him. "We caught your scents this morning around the building and I pulled in some favors to find out where you were staying…I sent my beta and two more to ambush you at your hotel. Hell of a lot of good it did me…"

Tony scoffed before realization struck him and he felt all the blood rush from his face. "Our hot—? How long ago did you send them out?!"

"About half an hour ago."

"Dammit!"

Steve was already up on his feet, one hand on his earpiece, as Tony slammed the Wolf's head back against the pavement, knocking him out cold. "Thor! Get out here!"

A moment later the hidden door swung open again and Thor lumbered out. There was a splatter of blood across his chest that Tony barely registered. "Do you require assistance?"

Steve jerked his head down in a nod. "Yes. Deal with him, we need to get back to Peter."

Thor's brow furrowed in immediate concern. "Peter? What has happened to Peter?"

Snarling, Tony had already started to run. "Just take care of him!"

"You needn't ask again. Go, my friend!"

Tony and Steve were already half way across the property by the time Thor finished talking. Tony pressed one hand to his ear to turn his earpiece back on as he used his other hand to begin to tug his shirt off over his head. "Bruce!"

"_Tony? What is it?_" By his voice, he could tell that Bruce was already worried. He must have seen everything but he hadn't heard what the alpha had said.

"Get to the hotel!"

"_Do you want me to pick up_—?"

"No," the radio line crackled as Tony interrupted the beta, "just drive! It's Peter!"

He heard Bruce suck in a breath before his voice dropped low to a no-nonsense pitch. "_Do you need a ride_?"

"There's no time, I'm running!" The hotel was about three miles away if you took a direct route. Hypothetically Bruce could get their faster but he would save time by leaving now and not waiting for them to make it back to the van. "Steve is right behind me. Just go!"

Tony threw himself at an eight foot fence separating the shipping area from the main part of town, the chicken wire shuddering under his hands as Steve did the same. They both only had about half a foot more to climb before they tumbled over, Tony landing on his feet and Steve falling down into a crouch next to him. Tony met Steve's eyes but before he could even yell at him to shift, his mate was already halfway into his Wolf form.

Tony was about to follow-suit when an unexpected voice took over his intercom. JARVIS. "_Master Stark, Master Peter just called in that there are men trying to gain access to the room_."

Shit! "We're on the way. Call the cops!"

"_I already have, Sir_."

There was no time. Swearing, Tony kicked off his pants, shifted, and then he and Steve were running.

He had never moved so fast in his life. Tony and Steve ran side by side, both of their chests heaving as their legs whipped through the air. Tony's heart was beating up against his ribcage and he could hear snarls burst from Steve's lungs as he kept pace next to him.

In some part of his mind he heard humans screamed as they raced through the streets, dodging cars, light poles, and pedestrians as they tore through the city. Neither of them had never attempted the whole trip on foot before and it showed with every dead-end they turned down. Tony could feel the seconds ticking away in his heart as they struggled to find a way through the colonial maze of winding streets and buildings. After what seemed like a lifetime but in reality must have only been no longer than five minutes of searching they found a familiar road and raced down it.

There! Finally! Their hotel was at the end of this block.

Tony caught sight of the van parked outside, driven halfway up onto the sidewalk with the driver's door ajar and the lights left on. Bruce. Bruce had made it there. The vice that had sealed around his heart loosened just a bit. Bruce was already on the scene, he would make sure that Peter was alright.

Or maybe not.

A loud, angry roar rang out from the hotel and their room came into view just in time for them to watch as one of the rogue pack's Wolves flew out the open door and slam into the asphalt in the parking lot, knocked out cold with five deep cuts slashed open across his chest. Leaping over the unconscious man's body, Tony made a bee-line for the door then froze when he got there. He already knew what was coming but seeing it…he wasn't ready to see it.

Bruce had Shifted and his Wolf had Peter.

All of the fur on Tony's back was standing on end, his ears drawn back tight against his skull. Even so his eyes were wide, his pupils dilated into thin strips as they darted from Peter to Bruce. The room around them was completely destroyed but Tony barely gave it any attention. Peter was pale as a ghost and shaking and he had curled halfway up into a ball as Bruce's Wolf kept him close with one large clawed paw pressed against the whole of his back. His lips drew back from his teeth as if to hiss but no sound came out. The whiskers on his muzzle twitched and then he looked over at Steve who was standing stock still beside him, desperation written clearly all over his face even in his Wolf form.

If they moved forward, what would Bruce do? He wasn't in his right mind. His Wolf had seemed to know it was part of the pack in the past but he had hurt Steve and Thor before. And even if he didn't purposefully intend to hurt Peter, the Wolf was so strong that he could easily injure him on accident. Steve swallowed and stepped forward then stepped back.

Neither of them knew what the right move to make was and that scared Tony even more. Steve anxiously padded forward again then sat down, his head dipping low, and whimpered. Bruce ignored him and Steve tried again and whimpered louder. Tony didn't speak "Wolf" but the intent was clear and one he had never seen Steve resort to either in his Wolf or his human form. It was a desperate entreaty to Bruce's Wolf to give Peter back. This time Bruce's ears twitched and he glanced back over his furry shoulder. Tony perked up at the attention but any hopes that Bruce would respond favorably were dashed as the large Wolf simply snorted and turned away.

Steve stood up as they both heard the sound of footsteps hurrying to the door and Tony looked back and hissed for Clint and Natasha to quiet down as they appeared behind them. He didn't think that they understood exactly what he meant but they got the gist. Or maybe their instant quiet was more due to the sight of Bruce's Wolf holding a sniffling Peter in its paws.

Clint sucked in a breath, all of his typical humor wiped from his face. "What do we do?"

Steve shook his head. Natasha's jaw clenched. "Can't you talk to him, Steve? You've talked him down before."

Steve shook his head again. Bruce was acting differently than he usually did when he Shifted. Looking at the Wolf's body language, Tony had the growing suspicion that Bruce was trying to protect Peter even though the real threat had been dealt with. Did the Wolf know that no one else in the pack would hurt Peter? Did it know that Peter was Steve and Tony's son? Tony didn't know how many of Bruce's thoughts and memories translated over into the Wolf's brain.

The Wolf didn't seem to want Steve to get any closer but maybe he could slip in. Bruce had known Tony for so long, even before his experiment with Hydra's serum failed and he turned himself into, into this. And he was an alpha too, so the Wolf should respect him too. Right? Right.

Bracing himself in case Bruce's Wolf decided to lash out and try to claw at him, Tony hunkered down close to the floor and slunk forward. His ears were still pressed tight against his head and he could feel his tail whip about then fall straight and still, an instinctual response to reduce the amount of movement he was making. Bruce's Wolf turned a calculating eye on him but his ears just twitched a bit as he stayed quiet, almost like he was waiting to see what Tony was up to. Steve tried to follow him but immediately stopped as Bruce's Wolf released a low, warning rumble. Tony was on his own then.

Tony could feel the weight of the others' silent stares as he stepped carefully around one of the destroyed beds and closer to where Bruce was crouched on the far side of the room. It growled but let Tony slowly slink forward and slip his nose past his paws towards where it was almost cradling Peter against the fur on its chest. Tony was very aware of how close the knife-like claws on Bruce's paws were to his throat and eyes. But he was more focused right now on how close they were to Peter. His ears flicked forward as his son's small sniffles reached him and huffed out a gentle noise.

Oh god, he should have let Steve do this.

As far as he knew Peter had never seen him in his Cat form before. What if he got even more frightened? What if he didn't recognize him?

Peter started at the sound and then without an ounce of hesitation twisted his body around to reach over and curl his arms around Tony's neck. "Dad!"

A wave of relief washed over him and Tony nuzzled him and licked at Peter's cheek, his rough tongue catching on his son's skin. He shouldn't have doubted Peter. Just because he couldn't shift didn't mean that he wasn't still a Wolf. Of course he would know who he was. He could smell him.

The happy feelings were cut off as Bruce's Wolf reminded Tony it was still there by letting out a graveled rumble. Tony's ears instantly fell back again and he knew he had to act quickly before the Wolf decided to be in a less charitable mood. From the way Tony was standing all it would take was a quick swipe of his claws for the Wolf to disembowel him and that sounded like a really shitty way to end the evening.

Carefully, very carefully, Tony bit down on the back collar of the night shirt Peter was wearing, making sure not to snag any skin in the process, and lifted him out of Bruce's paws. Peter whimpered but curled up and didn't fight Tony's hold. Tony made sure not to make any sudden movements as he retreated back towards the door and angled his body as he walked so that he could keep one eye on the Wolf while keeping Peter as far away from him as possible. Now that Peter was out of his hold, the Wolf actually looked a bit bereft and had started to awkwardly shuffle about like it was searching for something else to do with itself.

As soon as Tony made it to where the others were standing Steve did a quick circle around them, as if to check that they were both unhurt, before stepping in front of them. Natasha moved forward with him and blocked Tony and Peter from Bruce's line of sight. Her lips were drawn into a firm line but Tony saw the fear beginning to fade from her eyes though she still had her gun out and in position. "Okay, clear. Calm Bruce down so we can get out of here."

As Steve woofed an agreement Clint knelt down beside Tony and Peter, his hand running over Peter's back as Tony gently deposited him on the ground. "Hey, buddy, you're okay. You hurt?"

Peter nestled tighter up against Tony's chest and dug his small fingers into his fur as he nodded his head. Sighing with relief, Clint met Tony's eyes before reaching out and urging Peter away with a gentleness he didn't often seem capable of. "Let's get you out of here."

Natasha spoke back to them without turning her head, her gaze still locked onto Bruce. "Take him to the car while we sort this out."

"Sure thing." Clint peeled a reluctant Peter off of Tony and held him close as he rose to his feet. "Let's go wait outside while they get Uncle Bruce settled. Oh, hey, what's this?" Spotting a small pile of cream fur tucked beside the overturned bed closest to the door, Clint snuck over and snatched it up. It was Peter's stuffed wolf. "Look, Snow's here. Let's go get her a snack, huh?"

Peter lurched forward at the sight of his toy and almost tumbled out of Clint's arms in his effort to grab it. Tony huffed out an appreciative noise as Clint passed by him on his way out then turned back to watch the rest of this play out.

It was Steve's turn. Now that Peter was out of harm's way Steve had regained his powerful stance. As soon as he changed his posture, Bruce's Wolf's attention snapped back to him and it watched him warily as Steve marched forward and growled. After a long moment of the two Wolves staring each other down, Bruce's Wolf finally capitulated and slowly lowered himself down onto his belly. As soon as the Wolf submitted itself Steve shifted back and, just as he hoped, the Wolf followed suit and a second later Bruce was sitting on the floor in his human form.

He was shivering and trembling and Steve reached over to one of the ruined beds and pulled the blanket off to wrap around his beta's shoulders. "Bruce, it's okay. You're back."

At the sound of Steve's hoarse voice, Bruce came back to himself before a look of horror washed over his face as he realized where he was. "What-what happened? Peter! Where's Peter?!"

"He's with Clint."

"Did I hurt him? Steve, did I hurt Peter?"

"No, no Bruce." Steve crouched down next to Bruce and put a steadying hand on his knee to try and anchor his Beta. "You saved him. You scared him a little bit, but you didn't hurt him."

Bruce's shoulder sagged and he closed his eyes and Tony could smell his relief coming off of him in a wave. "Thank god."

Tony shifted and walked across the room to sit next to Steve and he reached out to rest his hand on Bruce's shoulder. "You did good, Bruce."

"Tony…" Bruce reached up to rest his hand on Tony's arm, leaning into the touch. "Thank goodness you two weren't far behind me."

"We were far enough behind you to give you the chance to tear through that Wolf outside." Tony sniffed at the air. There had been more Wolves there recently but, "There were supposed to be four of them but I'm guessing if the others had any brains at all that they hightailed it out of here."

Bruce shook his head hard. "I was afraid that would happen. When I got here I saw them at the door and then they opened it and…I, I just panicked. I just lost control. But, god, I was afraid of what I would do to Peter but I couldn't stop it."

Tony squeezed Bruce's shoulder. "So were we. But your Wolf was like that gorilla with the kitten."

Bruce choked out a laugh and corrected him. "You mean Koko?"

"If you say so."

Steve smiled at both of them before letting out a short breath. "You did very well, Bruce. And the good news is it seems like you're being able to shift back with fewer problems."

"…I'm starting to try to work with it and not against it."

"Good."

"Uh, Steve? Tony?" Clint leaned through the doorway. Peter wasn't with him so he must be back in the van. "There're some cops out here and I don't know what to tell them."

Cops? Tony blinked as Bruce pulled the bed sheet tighter around him. "Oh shit, I forgot I told JARVIS to call them. Steve, go talk to them."

"Why don't you go?"

"I'm not good with authority."

Steve tilted his head then nodded. "Fair enough. I'll be right out, Clint. As soon as I find some pants."

O~O~O~O

Once they were able to convince the police that their story was what really happened and that no one but the Wolves who were still alive deserved to be taken into custody, which had included a call to SHIELD to help sort everything out, their pack was released. Thor, who had been standing guard the whole time over the rest of the Wolves they had brought down that night, was released from his duties as SHIELD agents swarmed into the storehouse now that the Shifters were subdued to get everything settled out. Steve had called a taxi to drive him, Peter, Clint, and Thor to a new hotel while Tony, Bruce, and Natasha stayed at the old one to try and clean up what they could then take the van back to meet the others when they were done.

The manager of the hotel was pretty angry—to put it mildly—but Tony soothed her a bit by writing a twenty thousand dollar check for the ruined room on the spot and with a promise that they would take care of any legal issues that might follow.

Finally Tony made it back to their new hotel room and stumbled inside, Bruce only a few steps behind him. Steve was sitting up on the bed closest to the door with Peter curled up asleep on his lap. The television in the room was on, the volume lowered to a quiet murmur, and there two empty plates and cups on the side table that meant that Steve must have gotten Peter some food.

Bruce immediately shuffled over to the second bed and collapsed down onto it, flopping down onto the comforter and only taking the time to weakly kick off his shoes before closing his eyes. Tony shook his head then moved across the room and crawled up onto the first bed beside Steve. His mate greeted him with a soft kiss, Peter murmuring as Steve's arms changed their grip on his small body.

"How is he?"

"Scared. But I think he'll be okay."

"I talked it out with the old hotel and just called the police precinct and the local SHIELD branch to make sure everything is sorted out. They all wanted a forwarding address but it looks like we can head home first thing tomorrow morning."

"Good. Home sounds good."

For maybe the first time in his life, Tony really and truly agreed.

O~O~O~O

"This can't happen again."

Tony nodded as Steve paced the length of their bedroom in front of where Tony was sitting on the edge of their bed. They were home again, safe, but Tony knew that the fear of what could have happened was lingering in both of their minds. "Peter isn't allowed to be involved in any aspect of our missions. That's all there is to it."

"Tony…We need to figure out what to do when this happens again. If we need to leave Peter alone again for a mission and Pepper isn't available to watch him. Because it's going to."

Tony knew that. Logically he knew that. Another big mission would come up and they would all want to go out. And Pepper was busy and occasionally out of state or out of the country for work. They wouldn't be able to rely on her to always be there to babysit, even if she would have been happy to do so. "Peter can stay here. He's safe here." Tony had built this place from the ground up. It was secure as a private residence could get. It wasn't a fortress but it there were systems in place to stop Shifters from breaking in. And JARVIS was here. He couldn't be a real babysitter for Peter but he would be able to keep an eye on things when they couldn't.

Steve shook his head. He didn't want to leave Peter alone again. "We can ask Phil to watch him for us. Or even Charles and Erik—"

Tony instantly shot that down. "No. No one with any connection to SHIELD. I want to keep Peter as far away from this circus as possible. I'll just have to ask Pepper to come over and watch him. She knows the house so Peter won't even have to go anywhere." It would be abusing his power over her as a boss but that hadn't stopped him from doing it before. But even as he said it he knew it wouldn't really work. If they got short notice for a mission or is something was urgent and she was in the Malibu offices she would be physically unable to come back and watch Peter.

"What if we bring trouble back?"

"We won't. And there's nowhere in the world safer for Peter than here."

Steve stopped pacing and met Tony's eyes. "What do you mean?"

Tony snorted. "Sorry to ruin it for you, sweetheart, but you really think you marking your scent by running around the perimeter of my property is the only security I have on this place?"

"Well, I know you have JARVIS—"

Tony shook his head. "JARVIS is just the start. All the property I own is linked into a security network that's not just state of the art, it's at least ten years ahead of what everyone else has. I know because I invented most of what everyone else has. I save the best for myself. There's only one person who has ever gotten through—"

"Loki."

"—Don't interrupt me. There's only one person who has ever gotten through and I fixed the loophole that let him slip in the week after it happened."

Steve's brow pinched up and then gently shook his head. "Tony, he's been sneaking in for the past year."

"Nope."

"But—"

"He would have been 'sneaking' if I didn't know about it." Especially in the beginning, when Tony was a little more aggressive in his displays of displeasure about having the Raven in his home, Loki would pretend to leave then sneak in when Tony had his back turned. He knew that Steve knew about it and allowed it out of some ridiculous notion of charity or fairness, but had decided not to say anything unless it got out of hand.

Steve's eyes widened a fraction in surprise. "You knew? All this time?"

Tony shrugged. "The first time I didn't realize it until JARVIS snitched on you but then I increased the security."

"And you didn't say anything."

"I've got better things to do with my life. The point is no one gets in here without me knowing about it."

Steve nodded then moved to sit down beside Tony on the mattress. "But that still leaves the question of who is going to watch him. We can't pull Ms. Potts away from her job every time we need someone to keep an eye on Peter.

Tony wanted to point out that 'Ms. Pott's' job was to do what Tony wanted her to do but he knew that wasn't entirely true. And he had too much respect for Pepper to think so, no matter what he said when he was teasing her. But they didn't have anyone else in their lives who wasn't pack who he would trust to keep Peter safe.

Steve sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "This whole thing is just…" Words seemed to fail him and he looked as tired as Tony felt.

Tony watched him for a long moment then heaved a breath. "Fine."

Steve lifted his head and turned in confusion. "What?"

"There's only one way this is going to work. We both know it."

Steve tilted his head to the side before he figured out what he meant. "Tony…"

"It's fine. I need to refocus on my company anyway." They couldn't both keep doing this. Not with Peter around. Not when it might put him in danger.

Shaking his head, Steve moved closer and rested his hand over Tony's. "I want what's best for Peter but I don't want this to put a wall between us."

Tony shook off his touch and threw his hands up in defeat. "What do you want me to say, Steve? I can't pretend like this is a choice I want to make but between the two of us this is the only thing that makes sense." They both knew it. Tony already stayed home seven times out of ten. Just because it were those three times out of ten where he was actually able to go out on missions that made Tony feel like he was really making a difference in the world didn't mean anything. Tony had Stark Industries, this was all Steve had. Steve's success with the missions made national headlines and Tony wasn't even out as a Shifter.

"You're okay with staying home while I go out on missions?"

Tony grimaced and shook his head. "I can still help remotely." At least he could tell himself that. The answer sounded weak even to his own ears. "And I shouldn't be leaving work as much as I do anyway…"

"But…?"

Of course there was a 'but'. This wasn't the way he thought things were going to go between him and Steve. He hadn't started this thinking he was going to be relegated to the position of an army wife. Like a beta, or an omega. Jesus, how was this his life? "_But_ I don't like the idea of not being there to watch your back. And I just…It should be the other way around."

Steve tilted his head in question and Tony scowled again. "You're better with Peter. You should be the one to spend more time with him."

Steve's expression softened and he reached forward to hold his hand again. Tony didn't pull away this time. "Peter loves you just as much."

Tony snorted, not quite believing it, and he could tell that it broke Steve's heart a little bit.

After a moment, though, Steve sighed. "Thank you." And he meant it. "I'll make it up to you. I promise."

"Don't be stupid. This is what being a parent is supposed to be like right?" There was a bitter edge to Tony's voice but he couldn't keep it out. He loved Peter but he didn't want this. For the first time in over a decade the desire to just be able to speak to his own dad flared up hot and piercing in Tony's chest. What sacrifices had _he_ made for Tony?

"Yeah. It is." Steve took a breath then leaned forward to press his lips against Tony's temple. "I love you."

"I know."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 is finally out! This is the chapter where they story line really starts to pick up so I hope you all are ready for it! Tony, Steve, the rest of the pack, and we the readers get a taste of what the future holds in store for them and it looks like it's going to be a bit of a bumpy ride. ;)

Big thanks go to all of those who reviewed the last chapter: shine lots, kingdomheartslover13, AnonReader, Whitewolfstar, RawR ! You dudes rock.

* * *

Chapter 4

* * *

Before Tony knew it six years had gone by in a blur. The only way he had even noticed the passage of time in his busy days was the fact that Peter somehow just kept growing. Besides that everything continued on as normal. Well, the new "normal" where the days blurred together into one indistinguishable, forgettable smear of appointments and deadlines on his calendar. Not that Tony bothered to read the calendar half the time.

Whether he checked his schedule or not, Tony threw himself back into his work at Stark Industries. To a degree it actually felt good. Ever since he had left Steve all those years ago and nearly killed him in the process, Tony had tried to balance out both sides of his life: the CEO and the mission-running pack member. It hadn't been easy but it had been worth it. Now he was still a pack member, and he did still actually remotely participate in missions, but he was able to reorient himself so that his main goals were based around his company. And it flourished under his attentions.

He was able to devote time during the day to developing new technology and in three months had outstripped what his whole Research and Development team had managed to do in three years. Tony didn't blame them though. He had personally hired the best. He was just better.

It hadn't all been perfect or easy—nothing ever was—but today Tony was facing a particularly annoying problem. And this specific problem wasn't in his workshop. No, it was currently sitting in one of the smaller conference rooms in Stark Tower, which is exactly where Tony was heading now.

Pepper was hot on his tail as he marched down the hall from his office towards the elevator. Tony was _pissed_ which made him even angrier because the day had actually been going pretty well until about an hour ago. He had woken up after a night full of sex with Steve—he had just returned from another mission the night before—then managed to get Peter off to elementary school on time for once before stopping off at the donut shop on the way to work. But Tony could tell Pepper was just as upset and it settled him a bit. Just enough to keep him from causing anyone any physical damage. He hissed under his breath as he jammed his finger into the elevator call button. "This is a fucking nightmare. And we're sure this data's correct?"

Pepper sighed and tucked a strand of hair that had fallen loose from her bun back behind her ear. "It's your intel, Tony, you tell me."

"Damn it…" His data was never wrong. "I don't understand. How could we both miss this?" Despite Tony's harsh tone he wasn't berating either Pepper or himself. He was honestly asking. It was incredibly difficult to sneak anything by him and if he was distracted enough for it to happen then Pepper always caught it. She was just as thorough as he was and they both took this sort of thing very seriously.

The elevator came and they both stepped inside before Pepper selected their floor and the doors silently slid closed again. "He covered his tracks well."

"Understatement of the year." The walls of the elevator were mirrored to try and make the small box feel larger but all it was doing right now was giving Tony a view of the stern frown on his face. "Have security meet us in the conference room, this might get messy."

Pepper dutifully pulled out her phone but she narrowed her eyes at Tony as she sent out a quick message. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm just going to talk to him." He had tried for innocent but by the look on her face he hadn't fooled anybody.

"Maybe you should let me do the talking."

Tony's answer was immediate. "I don't think so. He used us and played my company. He made this personal so now I'm going to personally handle it."

Pepper gave an understanding nod. There was a new, concerned look in her eyes now. "Don't lose your temper, Tony. The last time that happened you flipped a table over and that can't happen in mixed company."

Humans weren't strong enough to manage that very easily. But that was just fine. Tony knew how to do 'angry' as a human just as well as he could show the same emotion as a Shifter. "I know how I need to behave."

This wasn't how he wanted to spend his time today. Steve had just gotten home last night from a two week long stakeout in Colorado and Tony had hoped to get home early, maybe even do something nice for dinner.

As Steve had continued leading the rest of the pack in SHIELD-issued missions they had become more involved, longer term outings. The world was slowly continuing to change and SHIELD was starting to hold more sway over local and larger scale governments so Steve and his and his pack's particular skill set had never been in higher demand. And the years had done nothing to slow Steve down. If anything, he was just now reaching his prime. He still had all the strength and speed of his youth but now also had almost a decade of experience leading a team to back it all up.

Tony couldn't help but be proud of his accomplishments even if there was still a small feeling of jealousy eating away at his heart every time Steve announced that he would be leaving on another job and Tony knew he was going to be left at home to keep an eye on Peter. To be fair though, Steve had somehow managed to be an active and present force in Peter's life. When he was away he tried to call or email every night and when he was home Steve made sure that Peter never felt anything other than supported and loved. And he also made sure that Tony got a break from it all. In short, Steve was still perfect, a superhero and a super-dad, and if Tony hadn't been the one mated to him he would have resented him for not only doing everything so well but being so god-damned earnest and genuine about it. They still occasionally fought and butted heads—they wouldn't be 'them' if they didn't—but Tony couldn't even conceive anymore of living in a world that didn't have Steve in it. And he all he had wanted was to get through an average day in the office so he could go home, get them something to eat, and then get some serious sex in. But no, now he had _this_ to deal with.

The elevator came to a stop and Tony stalked out, Pepper looking no less threatening at his side. Employees wandering the halls literally ran to get out of their way and ducked inside open doorways to avoid them. Everyone—whether Tony knew them personally or not—knew it took a lot to get their bosses worked up and they made it obvious they didn't want to be any part of it.

When Tony reached the assigned conference room he threw the door open and strode inside. A quick check of the smaller room showed that the security team Pepper had requested was already present. The four men and woman stood carefully placed about the room with one in each back corner and two flanking Tony and Pepper as soon as they stepped into the room. Aside from them there was only one other person in the room and it literally the last person on Earth Tony wanted to have anywhere near him.

Justin Hammer was all smiles, his feet kicked up onto the conference table with a faked nonchalance that was so uniquely, annoyingly him. "Tony, what's all this about? If you wanted to talk to me about your investments there are a lot less forceful ways to go about it."

Tony narrowed his eyes and tried to make the human combust with his glare. "Knock it off, Hammer. I know."

He saw Hammer's smile falter a bit before returning in full force. Flipping his feet off of the table, he clasped his hands in front of him and it took everything bit of restraint Tony had to pretend he didn't see the condescension in the man's eyes. "You're going to have to be a little more specific."

Pepper subtly put her hand on Tony's arm and he swallowed back the hiss that was threatening to burst out. But her touch didn't stop him from adopting a very alpha, very dominant stance. There was nothing particularly inhuman about it but as he straightened his shoulders and straightened his spine he _felt_ intimidating and he knew he looked it. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. We know about your dirty dealings. I frankly don't know how you'd ever think that you could keep this from me. Consider that shipment you just brought in this morning to be your last."

Satisfaction coursed hot and bitter through Tony's veins as he finally saw a sliver of fear cross over Hammer's face. Money had always been that slime-ball's weak point. "Can't we talk this through? Listen, if you'd just let me explain, this is a really good deal! You could make millions—"

Tony raised his brows and huffed out a mirthless laugh. "I already have millions. And as it turns out I also have morals. Consider your contract with Stark Industries terminated. I'm pulling all of my funding and will have trucks at your facilities tomorrow morning to retrieve all of my tech."

"But Tony-!"

"_Don't _call me Tony." There was no was in hell Hammer would ever earn that level of familiarity with him. Any respect he might have had for the man had vanished this morning when Pepper had come to him with copies of finance reports and shipping manifestos that someone in Hammer Industries had tried to sweep under the rug. "You're very, _very_ lucky I'm not calling the police." The only reason he wasn't was that the long legal battle that would undoubtedly ensue afterwards just wasn't worth it for a piece of trash like Hammer. That, and it would put a stain on Stark Industries reputation by association.

Hammer shoved his chair out and leapt to his feet. Tony felt Pepper startle at the sudden movement but held his ground. Hammer wasn't a threat; he was a grown man throwing a tantrum. "You can't do this to me!"

"I just did. Now get the hell out of my building."

"I'm not going anywhere!"

With that Hammer reached into his jacket, there was a flash of silver, and chaos erupted.

O~O~O~O

Checking the clock on the kitchen wall, Steve let out a small hum. It was almost six o' clock. Tony had said this morning that he would try to make it home by then. Hopefully if he was going to be much later he would call. Steve was hoping to make a nice dinner for everyone but he definitely wanted Tony to be there when it was ready.

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. They could always have a late dinner. That might work better for everyone else anyway. Bruce had just gotten back from the SHIELD labs and was getting cleaned up. Natasha, Clint, Thor, and Loki were out in the Gym and would probably need to clean up too once they came back into the main house. And Peter probably wouldn't mind holding off for another hour. Steve's eyes drifted to his son where he was sitting at the kitchen counter hunched over his computer. He looked like he was still pretty busy.

Smiling, Steve crossed the room to where Peter was quietly doing his homework. Knowing that he rarely had difficulty completing school assignments, Steve figured that the frown on his son's face was for a different reason. Not that it was particularly unusual. As Peter drew closer to his teen years he had started to slowly get less enthusiastic when it came to anything school related. He was still getting good grades and his teachers never had anything bad to say about him during parent-teacher meetings but there was definitely something going on.

Having been a victim of such things himself Steve was afraid that Peter was being bullied. They had set him up in an integrated elementary school with Shifters and human children but maybe when it was time for Peter to graduate to middle school Steve would have to have a serious talk with Tony about moving him into an all human school. It might not be the message he and Tony should be sending to the world as celebrity parents but if it meant that fewer people would pick on Peter for his unusual condition it would be worth it.

"How's it going, Peter?"

Peter glanced up then sighed as their eyes met. "Fine. I guess. I'm supposed to do a report due next Friday about a state but I don't know what to write."

Steve perked up a bit and leaned in to get a glimpse of his son's screen. He could definitely help with a Social Studies question. "Let's see what you've come up with." Not only would he be able to help Peter, but it would also give him something else to think about rather than wonder when Tony was going to make it back.

They were able to work for a solid forty-five minutes and get a decent outline for Peter's essay started before they were interrupted. Steve looked up as the front door slammed shut and JARVIS barely had enough time to announce that 'Master Stark' was home before Tony himself stalked into the kitchen. Steve and Peter both paused mid-conversation as Tony came in and walked straight to his liquor cabinet. The Cat was trying to keep a neutral expression pasted on his face but Steve knew better by the sharp glint in his mate's eye and the muted anger seeping off of him in his scent. That, and the fact that Tony went directly for the bottle of whiskey.

Peter's wide-eyed gaze slid over to Steve and he cleared his throat. "Tony, is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just," Tony poured himself a shot of whiskey and downed it in one go, "tired. Really, really tired. Exhausted in fact." Steve relaxed when he saw Tony cap the bottle, the Cat's hand then moving to rub over his face. He didn't want Tony to be over-drinking in front of their son.

Peter fidgeted on his seat and Steve saw him grab onto a small stack of papers he had stuck underneath his laptop. "Hey, Dad?"

Tony grunted, his fingers sliding up through his hair. "Not now, Peter, it feels like a bomb just went off inside my skull."

Peter released the papers and quickly turned back to his laptop. Steve would have reproached Tony but his mate really did seem out of sorts. "Do you want to just head upstairs and lie down? I can bring you something to eat in a bit."

Tony's hand fell back down to rest at his side. "Oh my god, that sounds amazing."

"Alright. Go head up then."

After Tony disappeared Peter turned his eyes back on Steve and bit his bottom lip uncertainly. "Was it something I said?"

Steve was shaking his head before Peter was even able to finish his question. "No." And he knew the last thing Tony would have wanted was for Peter to think his bad mood was his fault. "He must have had a rough day at work. Tell you what, I'll put together some dinner for him and find out what happened for the both of us."

A smile flickered onto Peter's lips and he nodded. "Sure. Thanks, Pop."

Smiling back, Steve ruffled Peter's hair before getting up and walking over to the fridge. Now that Tony was home and it seemed like he was going to eat separate from the rest of the pack anyway there was no point in waiting to cook the rest of them dinner. He took a few minutes to start a pot of stew then while he was waiting for the pot to heat up, Steve pulled a quick sandwich together for Tony. By the time he finished up and put the sandwich fixings away the stew was at a boil so he turned it down to simmer, grabbed Tony's plate, and headed upstairs.

When Steve got to their room the lights were still on but Tony had flopped down onto the bed fully clothed, even with his shoes on, and buried his head underneath one of the pillows. Raising a brow, Steve paused then casually sat down on the mattress next to his mate's prone form and set the plate down on the nightstand. "So…" He let the word hang in the air for a moment but pushed on when Tony didn't so much as twitch, "Do you want to tell me about what's going on?"

"No."

The grunt was a little muffled by the pillow but Steve still heard it clear enough to know that the refusal was more out of exhaustion than stubbornness this time. That was good. Tired Tony was easier to convince than stubborn Tony was. "Peter's worried. So am I."

A few seconds past then Tony pulled the pillow off of his head and glared half-heartedly up at Steve. "Where's my food?"

After a few bites Tony was a bit more willing to talk when Steve gave him a little nudge as a reminder that he was still there and wasn't likely to leave without an answer. The Cat let out a sigh, took a particularly vicious bite of his sandwich, then began to explain. "I'm dealing with some bastard who was trying to reinvest Stark Tech into some less than legal avenues. We're trying to keep the whole thing under wraps so the press and our investors don't get word of it which is a shame because the dick should be getting some jail time, or at least be hit with some heavy fines for the shit he's trying to pull."

Steve's brow furrowed and he leaned back against the headboard as Tony continued to eat. "That sounds serious."

"It is. And Hammer's decided to make it personal."

"What do you mean?"

Tony gave a casual shrug as he finished off the last of his sandwich. "He threw a tantrum today during an inquisition and had to be dragged out by security."

Thoughts sprang up in Steve's mind of a full grown man throwing the sort of tantrums Peter used to in the middle of Stark Tower. He was sure that's not what actually happened but it made for an amusing mental image. "What did he do?"

Tony shrugged again. "He reverted back to grade school and started calling me names. And then he pulled a gun on me."

All amusement was instantly burned away from Steve's mind and he lurched away from the headboard. "_What?_ Tony!" He couldn't have mentioned that _first_?

"Down, boy. I'm fine. He didn't get a shot off."

"Where is he now?"

"Calm down, Steve. You're leaking testosterone like a faucet, and not the enticing kind. He—and his lawyers—are being dealt with. And, before you ask, no, you cannot go tear his throat open. I'm not a damsel in distress in need of rescue."

Steve growled but took in a deep breath and willed himself to relax. He knew that on some level Tony was right. He was very capable of taking care of himself. But that didn't mean much to Steve's own alpha instincts. Someone had pointed a gun at his mate. Thank god he hadn't been there because he probably would have killed the man. He went over Tony's words in his head and reminded himself that it sounded like Tony had it handled. His mate would be alright. The danger had passed. "Are you sure everything is under control?"

Tony had been watching him closely throughout his entire inner-debate and seemed satisfied with the result. "One hundred percent. If there's one thing I know how to manage it's a legal team, and by 'manage' I mean hire the best there is and let them do their work. Hammer isn't the problem anymore, it's the technology he sold onto the black market and weaponization of it that's going to be causing me headaches."

"You'll let me know if you need help." It wasn't a question. It was a command. If there was any way that Steve could give Tony a hand with any of this he wanted his mate to tell him.

But Tony just rolled his eyes and passed his empty plate back over to Steve. "If anything comes up that's more urgent than your day job, yes, I'll let you know. Now what would be really amazing would be if you could turn off the lights, let me get in a few hours of sleep to try to get rid of my migraine, then come back and wake me up so we can get some sex in and salvage at least part of this evening. Sound good?"

Steve wanted to disagree but he had to admit, certain parts of Tony's plan were definitely appealing. "Fine. Do you want anything else to eat tonight?"

"Only you in about five hours."

"Alright." He could probably manage that.

O~O~O~O

The only reason Tony got any sleep that night was because Steve kept his word, came back after eating with the rest of the pack, and fucked him into the mattress. And it was pretty fantastic. But after that rather impressive workout, Tony was only asleep for less than three hours before his eyes flickered back open and he was completely awake again. He rolled over and took a moment just to watch Steve, the Wolf still fast asleep beside him. His blond hair was a little mussed but aside from that he looked entirely too perfect. He should have at least had the good graces to drool a little bit or something to make Tony feel a bit better about himself. But no, Steve looked better than ever. His relaxed features made him look a few years younger but even in his sleep he somehow managed to retain a certain authoritative presence that was all alpha.

For a minute Tony wished he could draw like Steve could, because this would be a perfect moment to capture. But wait…Tony smirked and snagged his phone, making sure to turn the flash off before snapping a few shots with his camera. Technology saved the day again. Now he would have a nice little memento for the next time Steve got called away for work.

But even Steve could only hold his attention for so long.

Very carefully freeing himself from Steve's arms, Tony slipped out of bed, redressed, and silently padded out of the room. It was around two in the morning and since tomorrow—today, was a weekend that meant he didn't have to worry about how late he stayed up. So he was going to get some work done.

A smile pulled at the corners of his lips as he descended the stairs into his workshop. "JARVIS, look alive buddy. Get those files open for the new navigation system I was working on."

"_For you, Sir, anything_."

Tony raised a brow as he opened up the door to the basement. With a quick wave of his hand he opened up a holographic panel and had the lights up, the computers running, and his music playing. "That was an unusually compliant response. Should I be worried?"

"_Of course not. But may I suggest that you address the issues you uncovered in your testing of your last invention before beginning a new one?_"

"Your suggestion is noted and ignored because it's boring. Now, I've got some work to do. Get Dummy to start up the espresso machine, will you?"

He heard the AI sigh, JARVIS almost sounding as exasperated as Steve looked some times. "_Very well, Sir._"

Tony happily spent the next few hours tinkering until his stomach loudly reminded him that food was important. A quick check of the clock told him that it was already eight in the morning and he had to remember that the only thing he had eaten in twenty-four hours was the sandwich Steve have made for him before he let himself put his tools down and headed for the door.

As Tony came up from his workshop he found that he was no longer the only one awake. The house was humming with energy and fresh scents lingered through the halls. Okay, most of the house was probably already up but there was only one person downstairs and that was Peter in the media room. Smiling softly, Tony leaned on the doorway into the room as he wiped his greasy hands off on his work shirt. "Hey there, sport. What are you up to?"

Peter looked over from his spot on the couch. He had a bowl of colorful-looked cereal in his lap and with his pajamas still on there was no denying he was absolutely adorable. Not that Tony was about to tell the ten-year-old that. He was already too old to appreciate that sort of thing. "Nothing. I'm just watching cartoons."

"I can see that." Tony's smile fell away as Peter seemed to hesitate for a moment before turning to face the TV again. He almost seemed nervous…Then it hit Tony that the last time they had seen each other he had been a little short with the kid and guilt pricked sharp in his chest. "Sorry about last night. I was, tired from work but I shouldn't have snapped at you like that." It wasn't out of the ordinary span of behavior for him but that was no excuse for making Peter deal with it.

Peter stiffened a bit before a small smile spread across his lips and he nodded ."It's okay." Seeing that expression, Tony knew he was forgiven. Good. He was going to have to get a lot better at this whole thing by the time Peter hit his first brush with puberty and started testing his boundaries. Tony remembered a lot of screaming and arguing between himself and his Dad and he didn't want to repeat that with his own son. Which meant he was going to have to continue to improve his attitude. At least as far as making snide comments or off-the-cuff remarks went. Everyone else was used to it and knew that Tony meant well but Peter was still growing up and might take something personally. God knew Tony did when Howard brushed him off or made some sort of sarcastic statement. Of course they had both been alphas so that hadn't helped.

As Peter looked back at him Tony found a part of him wishing that the little beta Wolf could stay ten-years-old forever. But that wouldn't be fair to him. Beside the fact that it was biologically impossible. "How long is Pop going to be able to stay this time?"

Tony went through his mental 'Steve Schedule' then shrugged. "Can't say for sure but it looks like at least a week."

"Good." Peter nodded his head then perked up so abruptly that he almost knocked his cereal bowl out of his own lap. "Hey, can we go to the Science Museum this weekend?"

The request caught Tony a bit off guard but the more the thought about it the more he liked it. It wouldn't be too long of a drive and a day in the city could be fun. It was hard for him to think of that particular museum without flinching a bit inside. It was the same one the pack had been sent to by SHIELD all those years ago when Hydra had held their gala to treat their investors to a high-class party and a sneak-peek at their newest biological weapons. But he had been to the museum since, with Steve and Peter, and Peter really seemed to enjoy it in the past. "We can probably squeeze in a trip. Why?"

Peter smiled again, all excitement. If he had a tail it would be wagging. "I read online they just opened a new exhibit on genetics and I want to go check it out."

Not what you'd expect a ten year old to say. "You don't think it'll be too boring?"

But Peter just tilted his head. "Why would it be?"

"No reason." It figured his kid would grow up to be a nerd. Like father, like son, even when genetics weren't involved. "How about this, I'll get your Pop to come too and it'll be just the three of us for a few hours. How does that sound?"

Peter's smile brightened. "Good!" As a Wolf, Peter naturally loved being with his pack but he always appreciated a little extra attention from the pack's lead alphas, especially since they were his parents.

Steve of course was in complete agreement with their plan and decided that they should head out that day before either he or Tony got too busy with something else. Everyone else was happy to let them go off by themselves for a few hours and Bruce promised to keep an eye on things while they were away. The worst that was likely to happen was that Clint would injure himself again so Tony wasn't too worried.

Peter was chatty on the car ride into the city, his eagerness about the trip making him more outgoing than usual. Tony and Steve both kept the conversation going, happy to get the chance to learn more about how Peter was doing without making it seem like they were prying.

Traffic was good and they arrived a little after noon. Finding parking was a bit tricky but Steve insisted that he could find a reasonably priced lot despite Tony's arguments that they should just pay the valet for a good spot. It ended up with them parking about five blocks away from the museum and walking. It wasn't too long of a walk but Tony still would have bitched about it if Peter hadn't been there looking so happy. And, if Tony was honest with himself, it was kind of nice to walk through the city like a normal couple and their kid. He and Steve had both worn inconspicuous clothing on purpose and blended in with the rest of the people hustling down the sidewalk. Tony had closed off his scent but with the amount of foot traffic no one was likely to suspect that they were anything but human unless another Shifter passed by. But one whiff of Steve's powerful alpha scent and they'd be a moron to do anything other than keep walking. The only way they really stood out was the fact that they were still a gay couple with a child but they were in a big city so no one cared.

It was really nice.

The last time they were there Tony had bought an annual family membership so they were able to walk right into the museum with a quick flash of his membership card. As soon as they were through the doors Peter grabbed onto each of them with one hand and scrambled across the marble floors to where he knew the new exhibit had been installed. He knew the layout of this place better than either Steve or Tony did.

When they made it to the right room Peter released their arms and darted forward to where a small crowd had already gathered to take in the new displays on their opening weekend. Steve smiled broadly as Peter ran ahead and squeezed through a group of men and woman twice his age and only half as interested to get a better view of the first text panel. Tony couldn't help but smile back at Steve. He got it. Although he only had a fleeting interest in genetics himself—that was more Bruce's thing—it was amazing to see Peter so into it.

As they wandered closer, Steve leaned in towards Tony so that their shoulders bumped. "Tony?"

"Hmm?"

"What do you think about signing Peter up for the Junior Explorers program here?"

Tony frowned and looked up at his mate. "The what?"

Steve grinned at his confusion. "The Junior Explorers program run by the museum. They have a day once a month where young teens can come in and get a short lecture and a behind-the-scenes tour of some of the exhibits. It's a little expensive, well, it would be for the average person, but I can tell he really enjoys learning about these things."

"How did you even-?" Tony glanced around. No, there were no banners or signs up about it. "Did I miss a brochure or something?"

"I looked this museum up on the internet this morning after you told me Peter wanted to come and they were advertising for the program on their homepage."

Steve looked awfully proud of himself but Tony was impressed. "Well. Sure, yeah. Sign him up for whatever. But you've just earned yourself a nice steak for dinner."

Now it was Steve's turn to look surprised as Tony linked their arms together. "What?"

"I was going to take us to Burger King after this but because of your amazing progress I'll get us a table at the steakhouse downtown instead."

"Are you trying to bribe me with food?"

"Of course not. I'm rewarding you. That's how you train dogs, right? Reward them with a treat when they get a trick right."

Steve's smile turned drier than the Mojave desert and he leaned closer to place a kiss against Tony's forehead. "You're lucky I love you."

Tony knew it. So he smiled back and let Steve pull away to walk over to where Peter was already on the third text panel. But he liked Steve's idea about the Junior Explorers program, whatever that was. Obviously he was going to have to do a bit of research of his own but the extra-curricular activity would be good for the kid. Peter didn't want to sign up for sports because he was afraid that the other kids would find out he was a Shifter if he was too fast or too strong. He hadn't shown much interest in music either and any of the art classes Tony had found for kids Peter's age had looked a little too child-friendly if that made sense. Peter was mature for his age and Tony knew from experience that he wouldn't care much to be talked to like a grade-schooler, despite the fact that he was one, as someone tried to teach him some rudimentary skill that he had mastered years ago. Steve still thought it was a good idea but Tony understood where Peter was coming from a bit better. After all, he had started going to MIT when he was just fifteen years old. When he was Peter's age, he was already cruising through Junior High.

But those were thoughts for another day. Today, Tony was just going to enjoy today.

O~O~O~O

Weeks pass quietly by. Steve and the rest of the pack go out on more missions but they always come back in one piece and Tony is always grateful though he occasionally forgets to show it. There's a few dozen meetings, three telecommunication conferences with overseas investors, and one parent-teacher conference that became very awkward very quickly when Peter's teacher wouldn't stop fangirling over the fact that she was meeting Tony Stark and Steve Rogers in person. Tony usually wouldn't have minded but they were there to talk about Peter and being fawned over by a sixty year old woman wasn't all that appealing.

Now he was back to his usual routine, stuck in the office, sitting at his desk, and scanning Ebay for new parts for his vintage coupe while trying to ignore Pepper. Unfortunately she was making it very difficult by walking over and slapping a stack of papers on his keyboard. Who used paper anymore? Wasn't that what they invented the internet for?

Pepper pursed her lips and rested a hand on her hip. "The annual fundraiser for the Shifter foundation is coming up in three months."

Tony leaned back in his chair and heaved a breath. "Three months? That's like a quarter of a year from now. Why are you even bothering to tell me about it?"

She wasn't moved by his exaggerated sigh. "Because there are some details that need to be worked out in advance."

"Can't you just do it?"

"I thought you might want to be a part of the planning, being that it is your fundraiser and all."

She might have a point. "Fine." Swinging around in his ergonomic, leather bound chair he abandoned all hope at finding a replacement carburetor and turned to face his window and its view of the city instead. "Email them to me in a list in order of priority since I'll probably only get the first four or five before I lose interest."

"I already have a list and I'll send it to you but try to get through at least fifteen of the points."

"Eight."

"Ten," Pepper raised a brow as she came around to block his view out the window, "or I'm making you do everything."

Tony narrowed his eyes and studied her face. Damn it. She was serious. "You're very good at negotiation."

Pepper bit her lip to try and keep her smile hidden. "I've learned."

And apparently Tony had taught her too well. He put on his best condescending CEO face even though he knew Pepper would be the last person to buy it. "Is there anything else, Ms. Potts? Because I'm a very busy man and I have some very important work-like tasks to get back to."

Nope. She didn't buy it. In fact, she pulled the same face better than him. The student had become the master. "That's good. Because if you were planning on spending the rest of the afternoon surfing the internet looking at vintage car parts I would probably get upset."

"Good to know."

"And there's only one more thing. A package came for you."

At that point Tony realized that there was indeed a brown box leaning up against his desk. "When did that get there?"

"About five minutes ago, when I brought it in with the papers you need to look at."

"Right. And I should care about it why?"

"Because it came from Dr. Franklin Hall."

Tony swung his chair back around to face his desk. Dr. Hall was a world-renowned researcher in physics who Tony had failed to lure to his company. They had met several times during industry conferences but hadn't had much personal interaction. Certainly nothing that would warrant Hall sending him a package to his office like this. Which made him curious. "Fine. Lemme see it."

Pepper picked the box up and handed it to him with a small, knowing smile that finally slipped free onto her lips. He just smirked right back as she lingered beside his desk, waiting for him to open it. It seemed like he wasn't the only curious one. "Don't _you_ have work to do?"

"I'm on my break."

"Who says you get a break?"

"Federal and State labor laws."

"Details."

Setting the box on top of his desk in front of his keyboard, Tony tore through its brown paper wrapping and inspected the cardboard underneath. No clues there. It was medium sized, not nearly big enough to hold any high tech equipment—even a small device would have had more packaging material around it. Maybe a book then, but Hall hadn't published anything other than academic journal articles in a few years. It was pretty heavy for its size too. Heavier than a book even.

After checking to make sure the door to his office was closed so that no employees could peek inside, Tony leaned in and sniffed the box. Once again he wished he had Steve or Bruce's nose but, no, Tony was able to pick up something. Something he wasn't expecting. A metallic, chemical odor, one he had worked with before in his workshop, but only very cautiously. Then, as he drew close, a light _tick, tick, tick_.

Then the ticking stopped and a cold fear gripped Tony's chest.

With inhuman speed, Tony threw the box as hard as he could to the far side of the room then sprang from his chair and dove on top of Pepper. She shouted in surprise, the cry morphing into a scream as the bomb hit the floor and detonated on impact.

Using his body to shield Pepper from the blast, Tony hissed as he felt a pulse of heat rush over his back and heard the wall of windows in his office shatter. If he had been human the impact from the explosion would have knocked him right off of Pepper and given him a few broken limbs and second-degree burns in the process. But he was a Cat and before the blast even hit him he had braced himself, dug his fingers into the carpet, and twisted his body up to protect his most vital areas, as well as Pepper beneath him.

The explosion was violent but quick and in the span of a heartbeat it was over, leaving a yawning silence in its wake. Pepper had stopped screaming but was shaking underneath him and Tony pushed himself up to check her over. She seemed alright—scared, but unhurt—and Tony let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding. If Pepper had gotten injured he didn't know what he would've done. Then her eyes flashed open and he realized he wasn't the only one who thought that way. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and grabbed onto Tony with shaking hands. "Oh my god, Tony! Are you alright? Oh my god, look at your jacket!"

"It's fine. I'm fine. We're both fine."

Tony didn't know if he was trying to convince himself or Pepper but it didn't seem to be doing much to calm her down. She pushed on his arms until he rolled all the way off of her and had him turn around so that she could examine the back of his ruined suit and search for any signs of damage underneath.

That was how security found them as they raced in a moment later.

They didn't know he wasn't human and insisted that Tony be taken to the hospital immediately. When Tony finally stood up he understood why and why they looked so horrified. His office had been absolutely decimated. The area within five feet of where the bomb had gone off had just disappeared, dissolved into bits of debris so fine that they were still settling out of the dusty air. His desk had been knocked back at least eight feet and his desktop computer had been blown clear off and was hanging from the edge of the desk by its wires. There were glass and plaster bits everywhere and by all accounts they should have been torn apart too. Or at least be in critical condition. So Tony shot Pepper a look then turned back to the security guards with a pained grimace and agreed, telling them to call 911. But that he had to make a call of his own before the paramedics arrived.

Pepper dutifully distracted one guard as another hurried back into the hall to call an ambulance, giving Tony some small amount of privacy as he pulled his cellphone out of his pocket—thank god it was still working—with trembling fingers and searched through his contacts. There. There it was.

Dialing, Tony pulled the phone to his face and tried to hold it there. Now that the sudden burst of adrenaline was seeping away the shaking in his fingers spread. For shit's sake. He was an alpha. Pull it together, pull it together. Pepper was fine.

"_Agent Phil Coulson speaking._"

"It's Stark." He was proud of himself. Everything else was shaking but his voice was steady. "We have a situation."

"_What do you need me to do?"_

Nothing threw this man off balance. Tony could see why Steve liked him so much. "There was a bomb, the paramedics are coming, and I need to be injured."

"_I'll see what I can do._ _I'll have an agent waiting for you at the hospital_."

And that was that. Tony hung up just in time to be rushed again by his security personnel, telling him to lay back down, please Mr. Stark, just lay down. The ambulance would be there in two minutes. Just relax, everything is going to be alright.

O~O~O~O

"Mr. Stark. My name is Dr. Simmons and I've been assigned as your physician."

Tony narrowed his eyes and studied the perky young brunette with an English accent who had just walked into his hospital room. She had the right sort of clothes and lab coat on but there was something not quite right about the way she held herself…"You're not a real doctor."

Her smile faltered a bit before solidifying with some sort of inner conviction. "I am, just perhaps not a medical doctor but you didn't exactly give us much warning. Biology _is_ my area of expertise though. Now, let's see what we can do about these vital stats that the EMTs sent in from your ride over in the ambulance. Hmm…your blood pressure does seem to be abnormally high, even someone with your condition. Have you been suffering from an unusual amount of stress recently?"

"Well, a bomb did just go off in my office."

"Right. I suppose that is a natural response." Yeah. Not a medical doctor. "Are you feeling any amount of pain?"

His chest hurt a bit and he was still a little short of breath, but that could easily be contributable to the impact from the blast. It was hardly anything worth mentioning. "No, I'm pretty good actually."

"Excellent. In that case, I'll go fetch some bandages and we can get to work patching you up."

"What?" He was pretty sure he had just said he was fine.

"Well we can hardly let you leave looking like you do now. Any _man_ caught in an explosion like that would be likely to have some serious burns and possibly some skeletal damage. I've already taken the liberty of ordering a sling for your arm for the fractured ulna you sustained, some plaster for the cuts on your face and hands, and proper bandages for the first and second degree burns on your legs and back."

Huh. Maybe he shouldn't have been so quick to discount her. "Fantastic."

Dr. Simmons lacked some bedside manner but she was efficient and had Tony's imaginary injuries all wrapped up within half an hour. A few nurses came in to assist and Tony had to intervene as she stumbled her way through an explanation of why they had never seen her on the day shift before. And once she was done Tony wasn't left alone for long.

Less than ten more minutes passed before there was a knock on the door and Tony looked back over his shoulder as he finished buttoning up his shirt. Agent Coulson was standing in the doorway looking as unflappable as ever, as if this was just a social visit. Tony wasn't surprised to see the man; he had called the SHIELD agent for help after all. Tony also knew that the man probably already had the entire situation wrapped up in a neat little package. God, he didn't want to think of wrapped packages right now.

"How's Pepper?"

Coulson closed the door behind them and smiled gently. "A doctor looked her over and gave her a clean bill of health, undoubtedly due to your quick action."

Tony ignored the praise; it was the least he could have done. If he had been more on his game he would have been able to realize what was going on before that and been able to get them both out of the room entirely. "A real doctor checked her, right? Not that quack you sent over from SHIELD?"

"Dr. Simmons is one of our brightest researchers, she just doesn't get out of the lab very often."

"Oh, good, that makes me feel a lot better."

"But to answer your question, Ms. Potts was examined by a resident doctor from this hospital. Since she is human we saw no problem with allowing it."

It was hard to pull his jacket on with all the bandages on and eventually Tony just gave up and pulled the suit top over his shoulders like a cape. It would do until he got into the car.

"The police are getting involved."

Tony's gaze snapped up. "How about no?"

Coulson tilted his head and gave a small shrug. "It's been difficult to dissuade them. Are far they're concerned SHIELD has no jurisdiction over the case since, you know, no Shifters were involved."

Tony's brow pinched in confusion and his mouth opened to immediately correct the man but, no, Coulson was right. As far as the world knew it was a human crime against a human. Damn it. The police were harder to negotiate with than SHIELD was. There was too much an investigation could dredge up and make public. "I don't want them poking around."

"I'm afraid we don't really have a choice. But we'll do what we can to control their access to any information that might be too revealing."

"Great..."

"Do you want me to call Steve to come pick you up?"

No way was Tony letting Steve see him with all these bandages on. "No way in hell. Call Pepper and have her bring the company car around to pick me up."

Coulson did just that.

The real hospital staff wouldn't let Tony leave unless he agreed to be rolled out in wheelchair so he grudgingly let them sit him down and a nurse wheeled him to where Pepper was waiting for him in the waiting room of emergency care. As soon as the nurses stopped monitoring him, Tony hopped up out of the chair just to have Pepper grab onto him and start fussing. She looked okay. There was a Band-Aid on her forehead where she had gotten a small cut and her hair had been half pulled out of the bun she had been wearing, but she looked okay.

"Tony! How are you feeling?"

Her hand on his shoulder grounded him and made the whole thing feel a little less like some weird dream. "Did they do a good job with you? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"I'm shockingly intact, according to the doctor. Just some minor superficial bruising and cuts. But what about you? Look at you!"

"I'm fine. I just want to get home and forget this whole thing happened. Is it clear outside?" He peered around her through the clear glass doors and thought he saw too much movement outside.

"If by 'clear' you mean a swarm of reporters then 'yes'."

Damn it. "How did they get here so quickly?"

"The explosion was pretty noticeable and from what I was able to find out the ambulance driver leaked which hospital you were being taken to."

And it had been about an hour since he had been brought in. Plenty of time for the paparazzi to swarm if they knew where he was. "Any chance of getting rid of them?"

"At this point it would be easier just to go through them."

"I was afraid you were going to say that." For a moment he wondered if he could get the hospital to kick the press off the property by saying that their presence was threatening his health but decided that would take too long. All he wanted to do was get home.

She sighed then entwined her arm and the arm Tony still had that wasn't in a sling. "Come on, let's get this over with. Happy is already waiting; it will be a short walk."

Tony snorted in disbelief but steeled himself and walked through the sliding doors.

Instantly he was a hit by a wave of flashbulbs and camera lenses and his grip tightened on Pepper's arm.

"Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark, any comments about what happened in Stark Tower?"

Tony winced against another flash and growled. "I think it's pretty obvious what happened—"

Before he could finish, Pepper had started to speak over him and moved her body slightly so that she was blocking him from the main brunt of the cameras. "For everyone's safety we will not be making any comments about the incident earlier this afternoon. The City Police have gotten involved and I'm sure they will be able to answer any questions you have."

The questions continued but Tony and Pepper both ignored them as their car came into view. Tony could see Happy sitting in the driver's seat, the man's face drawn up into a serious frown.

"Mr. Stark, is it true that you were there when the bomb went off? How did you survive the blast?"

Pepper threw her hand out in a classic 'stop' gesture, her expression fierce. "Excuse me, Tony is understandably tired and needs to get some rest."

Tony couldn't help but smile at her reaction. It didn't hurt that by that point they had reached the car. Pulling open the door as fast as he could, Tony slipped into the back, slamming the car door shut behind him as Pepper walked around the back to slide in from the other side. The noise from the reporters silenced thanks to the thick windows on Tony's car and Tony turned to look at Pepper. "You are very attractive when you're angry. Have I ever told you that?"

"Once or twice. Let's get Tony home, Happy."

The man nodded from the front seat and punched the gas, peeling away from the curb with probably more speed than was legal. As soon as he was out of sight of the cameras, Tony spun around, yanked his jacket off, and began to pick at his bandages. "Pepper, help me get these off."

Her eyes widened. "What, your bandages? Tony, I don't think—"

"They're all just for show. Come on. I don't want to even imagine Steve's face if he saw me like this."

Pepper nodded then her eyebrows furrowed as she reached forward to grab onto a piece of plaster that Dr. Simmons had slapped onto his brow to hide a pretend gash. "This is probably going to hurt."

"Just, tear it off." It hadn't had that much time to set. "On the count of three: one, tw—ahh!" Tony flinched as she ripped it off, his skin burning where the plaster had stuck to it. "Shit! Pepper!"

"Sorry! Sorry. But it's off."

"How does it look?"

"Red. And I think I might have torn off a bit of your eyebrow."

"Perfect."

Undressing the rest of his wounds went smoother and by the time they pulled into the drive of Stark Manor he and Pepper had gotten him back into a presentable state. His suit jacket hadn't been salvageable so he just balled it up and stuck it under his arm. Hopefully Steve wouldn't notice the tears in his pants.

Pepper leaned out of the car as Tony stepped out and straightened his shirt. "Call me if you need me, Tony!"

"Will you come in and help me lie about what happened today?"

She made a face. "Lie to Steve? No."

"Then you're useless for the next few hours."

"Then I'll see you tomorrow at work."

He didn't want to go back to work tomorrow. Shouldn't he be allowed a sick day? Or an 'I almost got blown up' day? He had some vacation days stored up. But that would be admitting defeat and there was no way he was going to give the bomber that sort of satisfaction. "I want donuts and coffee waiting for me when I get there."

"I'll see what I can do."

He knew there were going to be donuts and coffee waiting for him tomorrow morning and it made him feel a little better. He waved good-bye to both Happy and Pepper as Happy turned the car around to take Pepper home herself. Which left Tony to walk up to his house by himself.

Tony paused on the front step of his home and stared blankly at the door, wondering if there was any way he could wiggle his way out of this one. For once, _he_ hadn't actually done anything wrong but something had still exploded so he knew the rest of them weren't going to be happy. One certain alpha Wolf in particular.

"_Sir, do you require help opening the front door or are you simply lost in thought?_"

Good ol' JARVIS. His smooth voice echoed down from the small speakers Tony had installed on the porch, ruining his mental monologue. "I've got some news to share Steve won't be thrilled with."

"_I did note several articles online about the bombing in your office. Is that the news you were referring to?" _

Tony winced. Great, it had already hit the internet. "Yeah, that's it. Do you think he'd be sufficiently distracted if I ordered some nice steaks for dinner?"

"_I suggest the best course of action would be to inform Master Rogers of the incident directly._"

"Noted but not happening."

He was pretty sure he heard JARVIS sigh in exasperation but it might have just been his imagination. "_Very well, Sir. Can I interest you in at least coming inside the house? I believe Agent Barton has just noticed your presence._"

"Damn it. Sure."

As the doors automatically swung open to allow Tony to step inside, he saw that JARVIS was right. He was being watched. Clint was perched on top of the stair railing, crouching down on a metal hand-rest that should have been much too small for a man his size to stand on. There was a smirk on his face but the small pinch between the Hawk's brows was enough to let Tony know that Clint had already heard the news as well. "Have trouble with the door?"

"Nope. Have a problem with keeping your feet on the ground?"

"You know I do." In one fluid movement he stood up and jumped off of the banister to land on the tiled floor. "We've been wondering when you were going to come home."

"Who's 'we'?" If there was a chance that Steve already knew about the whole bomb thing it would save Tony some trouble. Almost as soon as the thought passed through Tony's mind he dismissed it. If Steve had heard about it already, his phone would have been lit up with phone call after phone call and the Wolf would have tackled him to the floor as soon as he stepped into the house.

Part of Tony's question was answered as he walked into the media room and found Natasha sitting casually on the couch. A little too casually. She knew too, but Tony hadn't expected anything different. If Clint knew something, Natasha definitely did.

The Spider gave him an assessing look as Clint walked over to lean behind her against the back of the couch. "Someone had a busy day."

Tony inwardly winced again but had his neutral, nonchalant expression already pasted on his face. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Natasha stared at him with the most deadpan, unimpressed look Tony had ever seen cross her face. "Are you serious? You didn't tell Steve?"

"Tell me what?"

And he had such a fucked-up life. Tony rolled his eyes before turning to face his mate as Steve walked into the room, undoubtedly summoned by Tony's arrival. He was wearing a tight white cotton shirt and track pants, the scent of drying sweat lingering on his skin. He smelled delicious but the guarded look in his blue eyes told Tony he was going to have to wait.

So instead Tony shot a glare at Natasha but the redhead only shrugged. "He was going to find out eventually."

"Not necessarily."

Clint shook his head. "He reads the newspaper and it's sure to be on the front page tomorrow morning."

There was a deep frown on Steve's face now and Tony could tell he was starting to get angry as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Someone tell me what's going on."

Bruce chose that moment to hurry into the room, the beta's breath catching in his throat when he caught sight of Tony. "Tony, are you alright? I just heard about what happened on the radio."

Tony furrowed his brow. "What? Who listens to the _radio_ anymore-?"

"Dad?" Tony was interrupted from his deflection as Peter slunk into the room, his smartphone held out in his hand. "This says a bomb went off in your office. Is that true?"

Steve leveled Tony with a glare that would have melted steel and Tony finally gave in and threw his hands into the air in defeat. He was half expecting Thor to burst in through the wall since he was the only one who hadn't dropped in yet. "Okay. There may have been a slight incident at work today."

Steve's jaw tightened and there was a tangible anger rolling off of him through the air in waves. Peter instantly shrunk back, naturally tucking himself behind Bruce while Bruce, Natasha, and Clint tensed. Tony defiantly kept his body at ease but his hackles rose a bit when Steve spoke. It was a command, harsh and demanding. "Come here, we need to talk."

Leaning his head back, Tony rubbed his hands over his face before straightening back up to meet Steve's eyes. But he made no move to get up to follow Steve out of the room. "I'd really rather not do this right now, if it's all the same to you."

"We're doing this now. Can the rest of you leave the room for a minute please?" The 'please' seemed like an afterthought and no one made any sort of protest as they stood and ducked out of the room. "Bruce, close the door."

Tony scowled as the beta Wolf nodded and dutifully closed the door to the media room as they all escaped. Now it was just him and Steve but Tony wasn't worried. He could tell by the way Steve was looking at him that he wasn't mad at Tony so much as the fact that the bomb had happened in the first place. Although he did seem a little pissed at Tony too. Less so though.

Moving across the room, Tony sat down in the spot Natasha had just vacated on the couch. "Relax, Steve. Whoever this is, they're after Tony Stark the billionaire, not Tony Stark the Shifter."

Steve growled and stalked over to stand in front of him. "How is that supposed to make me relax?"

"Because it means that it's no one really close to me this time." Tony's thoughts drifted instantly to Obadiah Stane. But, no, the bastard had been dead for over two decades. Shaking his head to rid his brain of those thoughts, Tony managed to dredge up a smirk. "And it means they'll do a really shitty job because they think they're trying to kill a human."

"Tony, you're not invincible."

"You don't know that."

Steve swallowed and suddenly all of his anger seemed to fall away and then Tony could smell it. Fear. It was sharp and pungent and clinging close to Steve as he knelt down in front of the couch so that they were abruptly eye-to-eye. "Tony, please. You're not." Steve shook his head then reached a hand over and pressed through Tony's shirt against the wide scar in the center of his chest. "You're not. No one is."

Tony snarled and shoved Steve's hand away but Steve wasn't giving up. Surging forward, Steve braced his hands on the back of the couch on either side of Tony's head and used his bulk to keep Tony from wiggling free. Tony glared up at the Wolf and hissed. "What do you want me to say?"

"That you'll be careful."

"Obviously. I'm not stupid."

Steve made a small, hurt noise in the back of his throat. "I know you're not. I just need you to be careful. Someone tried to _kill_ you, Tony. Whether or not it actually worked doesn't change that."

"Hey." This close Tony was overwhelmed by the fear and anxiety coming off of his mate and gave in to the need to comfort him. He couldn't let Steve be this concerned. Not for him. He would say whatever he had to. "Listen, you're way too worried about this so let me assure you that this is just a small bump in the road. Think of it as an initiation that every fabulously wealthy celebrity entrepreneur has to go through. I'm not the first to receive some mysterious package and I won't be the last. This isn't something that I need you flying in to rescue me from. The city police are already on the case and they'll be able to trace the package and identify the bastard who sent it."

Steve shook his head and leaned in to press their foreheads together. "Tony, I can't…I can't do this again. Pretend like it's not a big deal. I'm going to cancel my next few missions and stay here for a while."

"What? Why?"

"Because a bomb was sent to your office!"

"And you being here didn't change that, did it?" Steve pulled away and growled, but he couldn't change the fact that Tony had just told the truth. They both knew it. But Tony might have been a little rough with his words. Huffing out a breath, Tony leaned back against the couch. "Look, I get what you're trying to do, but I can watch my own back and you have a job to do that doesn't involve babysitting me."

"Tony—"

"Hey." Reaching up, Tony flicked Steve's nose to stop his protest. "Remember who you're dealing with here."

Grabbing the hand that flicked him in one of his own, Steve pulled the offending fingers to his lips and pressed a long kiss against the pads of his fingertips. "That's the problem. I can't look past the fact that it's you. I…can't stand the idea of you being here to deal with this while I'm hundreds of miles away."

Tony watched Steve for a long moment then sighed and combed the fingers on his free hand through Steve's hair. His mate seemed to appreciate the touch and leaned into it, his blue eyes closing as Tony softly gave his response. "Welcome to every day of my life for the past six years, Steve. You're just going to have to do what I do: suck it up, deal with it, and trust that I know what the hell I'm doing."


End file.
